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Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan)

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Abstract

The Mesolithic period represents a key stage in the human history of Sudan, but its complexity is not yet fully understood. Since the beginning of prehistoric research in this region, efforts were made to understand Mesolithic site formation processes and post-depositional disturbances. Responsibility for the destruction of most Mesolithic sites’ deposits rests mainly on later use of the ancient mound-like settlements as burial places by Meroitic and post-Meroitic people. Excavations at several sites in the El Salha and Al Khiday areas (White Nile, south of Omdurman) have provided recent progress in our knowledge of Mesolithic living structures in their palaeoenvironmental contexts. Detailed stratigraphic and geoarchaeological investigations enabled us to distinguish, within the sequences identified at excavated mounds, the existence of basal archaeological strata still in situ that had remained unaffected by subsequent anthropogenic disturbances and to understand the functional aspects of several archaeological features associated with Mesolithic living floors. This offers the opportunity to reassess the Mesolithic cultural sequence in the region and reconsider some statements on the economic and social aspects of Mesolithic life and landscape exploitation strategies.

Résumé

La période mésolithique représente une étape clé dans l’histoire humaine du Soudan, mais elle n’est pas encore comprise dans toute sa complexité. Depuis le début des recherches préhistoriques dans cette région, les travaux ont cherché à élucider les processus de formation et perturbations post-dépositionnelles des sites mésolithiqes. Malheureusement, les dépôts de la plupart de ces sites sont perturbés. Ces destructions resultent en majorité de la réutilisation postérieure des buttes d’habitat en tant que nécropoles par les peuples Méroitiques et post-Méroitiques. Les fouilles menées sur de nombreux sites des régions d’El Salha et d’Al Khiday (Nil Blanc, sud d’Omdurman) ont pourtant ouvert de nouvelles perspectives dans notre connaissance des structures d’habitat du Mésolithique par rapport à leur contexte paléo-environnemental. Les recherches stratigraphiques et géo-archéologiques détaillées permettent non seulement de distinguer, dans les séquences d’occupation étudiées sur les buttes fouillées, l’existence de couches archéologiques basales in situ restées intouchées par les perturbations anthropogéniques subséquentes, mais aussi de comprendre les aspects fonctionnels de plusieurs structures fixes associées aux sols d’habitats mésolithiques. Ceci offre l’opportunité de réévaluer la séquence culturelle mésolithique de la region et de reconsidérer quelques constats sur les aspects économiques et sociaux du Mésolithique ainsi que les stratégies d’exploitation du milieu.

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Notes

  1. Afterwards indicated as SU.

  2. “…several circular aggregation of artefacts that suggest the presence of small storage or rubbish pits in the site” (Fernandez et al. 2003 :278) were noticed at Sheik Mustafa Mesolithic site, but not particularly well documented and contextualised. We wonder if this can be attributed to the “artificial levels” excavation method adopted when investigating the site (Fernandez 2003: 277).

  3. The single skeleton found at Wadi Kubbaniya has been dated to the Late Pleistocene, between 30000 and 20000 BP, on sedimentological grounds (Wendorf and Schild 1986: 71–74), but as it was found on the surface, this chronological attribution should be considered with caution. Graves at Al Khiday 2 may be as ancient, but until discrete confirmation is obtained, the “pre-Mesolithic” label will be adopted. Graves following the same funerary ritual were found also at Jebel Moya (Addison 1949), but the poor recording standard during the excavation and the lack of a systematic approach in the publication does not allow proper evaluation of the context. However, a few observations can be supplied that indicate how the association between the two sites is not congruent: (a) One grave following this ritual (Addison 1949: 61) was accompanied by pottery and other grave goods, whilst among the more than 70 individuals recorded at 16D4, only one had an ivory bracelet. (b) The two radiocarbon dates available for Jebel Moya (Clark and Stemler 1975) place the site in a much later chronological setting (2750 ± 100 BC) than the early burials at site 16D4. An Early Khartoum phase at this site has been estimated (only on pottery analysis from mixed deposits) not to go further back than 5000 BC (Caneva 1991; Gerharz 1994), still 2000 years later than the context at Al Khiday 1 and 2.

  4. SU 61 is a fireplace associated to Grave 124.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the Sudanese Department of Antiquity and the Italian Embassy in Khartoum for their continuous support in organizing our research. The project has been supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri (2000–2010), Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (2000–2010), Università degli Studi di Parma (2005–2010), Michela Schiff Giorgini Foundation (2002–2003, 2005, 2007) and GASID of Torino (2000–2009). We also thank Tina Jakob, the physical anthropologist of the project, for editing the English and for her invaluable comments on the text. Two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for providing valuable suggestions to improve the manuscript; the Editor A. LaViolette is also thanked for useful discussion. Preliminary information on pottery temper (mineralogy and grain size) was kindly furnished by Lara Maritan (Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Is.I.A.O.—Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, Via U. Aldrovandi 16, 00197, Rome, Italy

    Sandro Salvatori & Donatella Usai

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra “A. Desio”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Mangiagalli 34, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Andrea Zerboni

  3. Via di Canizzano 128/D, 31100, Treviso, Italy

    Donatella Usai

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  1. Sandro Salvatori
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Correspondence to Donatella Usai.

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Salvatori, S., Usai, D. & Zerboni, A. Mesolithic Site Formation and Palaeoenvironment Along the White Nile (Central Sudan). Afr Archaeol Rev 28, 177–211 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-011-9095-3

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