Transition to Food-Production : The Sahara and the Nile Valley in the Holocene
Osam Elnur
Notes on the problem of the transition to a productive economy
- The relationship between the Sahara, the Sudanese Nile Valley, and East Africa in the Holocene -
Osama Abdel-Rahman Elnur
A research project towards an African rooting of northern civilization. Does the origin of the Sudanese go back to the southern sources? Aspects of the problems of the historical reality buried under the thick shadow spread by the research of Egyptologists on reconstructing our ancient Kushite history, by referring to the fact that “Sudan’s relations with its African people remained unknown and forbidden, and its politicians lost the solid roots that linked them to Western African civilizations, and what drew them by blood and single history to the Bantu civilizations emanating from the Nile lakes in the depths of the continent. The main features of the Sudanese have become buried.” In Baankhi (Biya) and Taharqa, the ancient kings and pharaohs of the Nile ignore its blatant Africanism, considering it a disconnected legacy. This is not how a civilized people deals with its formative origins. But it is the rejected need to expand scientific research in all its branches and methods to uncover the facts of one blood, one origin, and common history and prepare the existing present to conjure the promising future of a unified Sudanese African nation.
In response to the invitation of Brother Dr. Realizing that the time has come to elaborate on these ideas and advance them into research and programming, Arkamani invites fellow Sudanese archaeologists and anthropologists to get involved in this project. William Adams raised a number of proposed “perceptions” about the reality of Kush, its cultural history, and its ethnic composition: “The Nubians as inferior Egyptians; the Nubians as noble savages; So how can we choose between them?
Currently, I can only refer to a paper - Brother Dr.’s remarks prompted me to... Mahjoub Al-Tijani to start writing it - and I hope I can complete it and publish it on the pages of Arkamani to enrich the dialogue. The subject of this paper focuses on the beginning of food production, a topic that has increasingly proven to be one of the most important themes in African archaeology. It is important in itself due to the different geographic systems, ancient climatic conditions, and technical developments surrounding it. However, if one is to accept the premise that contemporary societies trace their roots back to that historical stage, then food production is more important for its relationship and impact on contemporary African events and developments.
Although there is agreement on the fact that Neolithic conditions often correspond to an economic transformation of prehistoric societies, and although many researchers stress the difficulty of recognizing and testing the specific nature of the economic content archaeologically, they feel somewhat liberal in using the term "Neolithic", making it based only on certain features (primarily pottery). It seems to us, as a starting point for this paper, that it is necessary to emphasize not only technical developments, but above all, the economic and social transformations witnessed by the societies of the Nile Valley, the Sahara, and East Africa during the Holocene.
The Sahara has witnessed, only in exceptional cases, urban growth, as is witnessed in other African regions, due to the climatic conditions of the Sahara. The desert oases were the traditional centers of trade and exchange that continues to this day. In any case, current research indicates that the Sahara was the original focus of the development of a culture that relied on pastoralism as its basis, a transformation that had fundamental effects on the entire course of the history of the African continent. The pastoral productive economy, along with the exploitation of wild cereals in the Sahara, has been documented starting in the mid-Holocene, with some evidence dating back to about 10,000 years ago. In fact, it can be assumed that a clear and deliberate model of environmental exploitation, with basic means of resource accumulation, can be identified even earlier, at about 18,000 years ago, in Kush.
Ongoing research in recent years has demonstrated how, at the end of the Pleistocene, North African human groups and their geographic environments underwent complex transformations. In this paper, emphasis will be placed on this change, the ways in which it occurred, and the date of its occurrence. An image of the first horizon. Pre-domestication activities can be observed in the early stages of the Holocene, when the desert and the Nile Valley constituted a single ecosystem. The groups' economic strategy involved the use of a series of techniques, making exploitation of the environment more efficient: hunting, plant gathering, and fishing. At the same time, in drier environments such as the Western Sahara, the first experiments with cow grazing began, which led to cows becoming the main source of protein, taking this role from fish. At this time two resources were paramount to the growth of human populations - water and the abundance of wild grains.
The presented paper does not seek to trace careful experiments in food production in the desert and to highlight the effects of those experiments on the outcomes of the Middle Holocene. However, the paper is based on the hypothesis that although these experiments did not lead to the establishment of an agricultural economy in the desert, they allowed the transfer of experience to the Nile Valley, and influenced the local Neolithic cultures (Fayoum A, Badari, and Naqada). Therefore, the reconstruction of the Nubian-Mesolithic Neolithic cultures in this paper is Saharan-African, that is, it is a reconstruction that departs from the analyzes presented by Egyptologists in their discussions of the Neolithic cultures of Egypt and Kush.
Salvage work associated with the Aswan Reservoir (High Dam) since the beginning of the sixties has included extensive exploration of Kush and Upper Egypt. This shed light on the cultural development of the region in the period between 19,000 and 12,000 AD. During this period, which was characterized by an extremely harsh and dry climate, human settlement in North Africa witnessed a noticeable decline. Residence was limited to a strip along the northern coast and on both banks of the Nile. For this reason, data from the Nile Valley represent great importance, as they are the only evidence, along with evidence from Morocco and Libya, to document lifestyles in the late Paleolithic era. Archaeological data dating back to the early Holocene period in North Africa, specifically in Morocco, indicate that the Ibero-Mauritanian population, of the Arabian Homo species, was the only population in the region during those times. The Arabian Man of Mishta was likely a branch of an African population that inhabited North Africa, the Sahara, the Nile Valley, and East Africa. It is possible that these people are partly responsible for the re-occupation of the northern desert after the post-Attiyarian drought.
The paper deals with the study of the latest findings that have been reached in the past twenty years, which shed new light on the history of the Kushite Nile Valley and the Western Desert during the Middle Paleolithic stage, and emphasizes describing the sites of the cultures of the relevant stage (Arqin, Khor Musa and Halfawiyah in the Kushite Nile Valley, Lumimba in Kenya, Dabaa Cave in Jebel Akhdar, and Al-Atriya in Bir El-Ater in Algeria).
The paper seeks to test a research hypothesis which is that we cannot isolate the development of stone industries in Kush from the events taking place at that time in the desert, in the northern region of the Nile Valley, or in the east of the continent. Throughout the region, with the exception of the Mediterranean coast, the nature and distribution of human habitation sites depended on changing environmental conditions. Manifestations of this dependence can be seen in the cessation of the settlement process in a large part of the desert during the drought period that followed the flourishing of the stone industry known as Al-Atriya, and the dense concentration of settlement sites on both banks of the Nile. There is also the development of a series of widespread innovations at a very early time, which were associated with the quest to increase the capacity to produce food from the natural environment. These developments were closely linked to the existence of groups with specific, close borders that showed, as reflected in the remains of their material cultures, clear uniqueness in their lifestyles adapted to diverse circumstances.
Currently, information about the period between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago is still somewhat scarce. Later on this date, a Kushite stone industry known as Al-Shammarqiya appears, characterized by its microlithic tools that contained perforated blades with trimmed bases, which are similar to the tools found in desert industries in that period. About 7,000 years ago, a semi-Shammarq industry near Abu Simbel in southern Egypt was associated with specialized fishing tools made of bone in the form of spear heads equipped with a fork on one side. Although these sites do not indicate the beginning of intensive fishing, this type of activity has been practiced in the Nile Valley for thousands of years. Our most detailed knowledge of the spear-using population in the middle of the desert, in the Sudanese Nile Valley, and in parts of East Africa in this period comes from the Khartoum region, where remains of a culture that became known as Early Khartoum were uncovered at the site of the Khartoum Hospital, dating back to about 6,000–3,750 BC. The early Khartoum site provided materials indicating that the early Mesolithic societies that used pottery and grinding stones were not all concentrated in settled villages, nor were they all preoccupied with food production. The inhabitants of Khartoum were hunter-gatherers, who lived in semi-permanent sites and collected grains, wild vegetables, and shellfish, as well as hunting animals and fish. The paper focuses on demonstrating the importance of this site in reconstructing the pattern of cultural adaptation at that stage, not only in the Nile Valley, but also in East Africa and the Sahara. In the northern regions of Kush, pottery appears to have remained unknown until the late Shamariq industry, around 4,500 BC. Therefore, it cannot be said that early Khartoum pottery represents a technology that spread south from Egypt. Rather, the available evidence may indicate the presence of similar pottery in areas further south in the area extending between the Nile Valley and Lake Turkana in Kenya. Sediments in the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia, which represented the main northern extension of Lake Turkana at that time, provided harpoons made of bone contained in levels dating to about 8,000-1,000 years ago. The paper examines the main East African sites (Lwasira, Lake Nakuru, Lake Edward, and the Ishango site, which, along with other Lake Turkana sites, indicates that this adaptive pattern originally developed at a time prior to the emergence of the local pottery industry. When pottery appeared, its oldest East African manifestations showed a strong similarity to the Kushite Nile Valley industries.
Shortly after 12,000 years ago, there was a rapid return in the Sahara to wetter conditions. Increasing torrents flowing from the highlands, combined with increasing rates of rainfall and decreasing rates of evaporation, led to a steady return of water to the dry valleys over long periods of time, and to a significant expansion of existing swamps and lakes - especially Lake Chad - and to the formation of many new swamps and lakes. There were concomitant shifts in the distribution of wild plants and animals. The reasons behind these transformations are still not clearly understood, but what is clear is the amazing speed with which they occurred. It appears that about 11,000 years ago the lakes reached their maximum height.
Little research has been done on archaeological sites that can be confidently traced back to the first human settlement in the desert during those better climatic conditions. There are no known sites older than 10,000 years ago. The oldest pre-Atrian industries - from Mauritania to the Western Desert of Egypt - include trimmed, perforated blades similar to those observed in Shammarqa deposits in the Nile Valley. Collections of this type from the Western Sahara, such as the Conquer Oasis, also included roughly trimmed flake knives, but not pointed microlithic tools, although the latter are important compounds of contemporary collections excavated at Nabta Playa and in the Kharga Oasis. The presence of grinding stones in these sites indicates that wild cereal plants were likely harvested for use as food, as is the case in the sites of the same phase in the Nile Valley. A similar industry was found in Adrar Bous in the Tenere Desert in Niger.
About 9,000 years ago, important transformations occurred that differed significantly in form depending on local environmental conditions. Excavations in the Akakus Heights, southwest of Leia, revealed buildings in the rock shed at Tin Tora that indicate the form of permanent residence. The most significant evidence of the development of stability at this stage comes from the Dakhla Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. Between 9,000 and 1,500 years ago, the inhabitants of the region seem to have adopted a more sedentary lifestyle, inhabiting huts built on circular stone foundations and occupying a much smaller area than that of their ancestors. Where water was better available, fishing and water resources played a greater role in the economy of large areas of the central and southern Sahara, extending from the Nile Valley to western Mali. The sites were concentrated on the banks of rivers and lakes, which were higher and more extensive than they are today. Although hunting and grain gathering continued at lower rates, the dominance of fishing activity allowed larger populations to remain over longer periods in single sites. Bone spearheads, of the same type uncovered at the early Khartoum site, were the distinctive tools of this new phase. Pottery was also found in most sites of this type, and was decorated with wavy lines, which stands as further evidence of the relationship with early Khartoum. This pottery may appear in the Sahara at a slightly earlier date than in the Nile Valley or East Africa, as it dates back to 8,500 and 9,500 years ago in the Tadrarat of Akakus, in Tamaya Millet, south of the Air Mountains in Niger, and in Aminki in the extreme south of Algeria. Further west, in Mali, pottery decorated with wavy lines was also found at Otirat near Timbuktu. Thorned harpoons were found in Kuru-Nkoro-Kali near Bamako.
Transition to food production
The eventual adoption of food production techniques in the Nile Valley is only witnessed at a relatively late date. There is no indication that any form of food production was practiced in the Khartoum area before the fifth millennium AD. Field studies showed that the settlement pattern had acquired an unprecedented degree of complexity by that period. The first site that showed such a degree of complexity was discovered in Al-Shehinab, 50 kilometers north of Omdurman. The paper focuses on discussing the various sites in the Middle Nile Valley that are based on a productive economy, not an acquisitive economy, and which can be dated to approximately 4900-3800 BC (Al-Kadru and Al-Jili). It is worth noting that these sites showed the presence of a kind of social hierarchy.
The last phase of the Neolithic in the central Sudanese Nile Valley shows evidence indicating the actual dominance of a herding-based economy with a change in settlement patterns. Unlike the previous stage, when the sites were concentrated on both banks of the Nile due to the reliance on river resources in the first place, the herding groups in the Neolithic era began to spread rapidly to larger areas. In the adjacent Butana areas, an important cultural flourishing process began with the emergence of a strong pastoral economy in the phase that immediately followed the Neolithic phase of Khartoum. With the decline of the latter in the fourth millennium BC, the prosperity of the lining began. It is possible that the constant need for new pastures to ensure the recovery of an economy dependent on cows was a motive for the spread of Central Sudanese groups to the Butana areas. We believe that this may help explain the origin of pastoralist economies in the Ethiopian plateau and East Africa at the end of the third millennium BC.
Thus, it appears that the development of the Mesolithic was a local process that reflected a situation that spread over a wider region to the east as far as the Great Lakes region (Victoria, Turkana, and Edward), and to the west towards the desert depressions that were seasonally filled with water. The transition from this phase to the Neolithic era, characterized by food production, may have been a purely local development. Domesticated animals may have been acquired by populations from the desert. In principle, these groups did not change the prevailing economic pattern, which maintained a broad base characteristic of the Middle Stone Age, although domesticated animals were of great importance. Only later, in the Late Neolithic period, did pastoral activities prevail in Kush, creating an actual break with ancient traditions. In that period, the pastoral complex moved to take center stage, imposing hegemony on the economy and eliminating the traditions of hunting animals and fish.
To the north, along the course of the Nile, pottery artifacts were found that showed some similarity to Al-Shehinab artifacts in a number of sites in the Dongola region and to the north of it, where the latter was associated with an industry that received the name Abkiya (derived from the village of Abka). The oldest group of food producers in the northern fringes of Kush is that which has been called the First Group. The remains of this group were discovered along the northern edges of Kush in what is currently known as Lower Nubia. The majority of the decorated polished vessels bear many similarities to the vessels characteristic of Neolithic sites in Kush, such as Al-Shahinab and Shaqdud. Such similarity in the development of traditions and technical expertise in the central Kush Nile Valley and the northern outskirts of the Kush can only be explained by proposing the hypothesis that the two regions belong to a common cultural pattern.
The paper discusses the problem of what was known as the second group in the northern outskirts of Kush. The paper argues that the archaeological materials that Reisner and others believe belong to the second group are nothing but funerary materials for the poorer graves of the first group’s burials. Therefore, it may be said that the available material culture data indicate that the difference between the two types of burials is nothing more than a mere difference of a socio-economic nature, and it is far from being a difference of chronological succession.
Finally, the paper discusses the culture of the third group, noting that the material culture data prove the authenticity of the culture of the third group and its local character, and that it undoubtedly constitutes a later phase and continuation of the culture of the first group. Then a hypothesis is put forward that the link that might connect the two phases must be searched for in the region located south of the second waterfall. Such a hypothesis can be supported by the presence of several features between the third group phase and the Kerma phase. The ethno-cultural similarity between the two phases is evident from the study of funerary rituals and the custom of burying animals with the deceased, a custom that continued until the Napata era. In the cemetery of the third group in Faras, remains of the skeletons of animals, especially goats, were discovered, and traces of animal sacrifices were found in the graves of the third group in Debira, in addition to a burial on an aqrib (a wooden bed sewn with leather). All this is in addition to the closeness and similarity in pottery and other craft products and in the decorative patterns, wavy lines and triangles that cover the walls of pottery vessels.
Installation of reliefs in the Lion Temple of Naqa and its iconographic structure
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