Abstract
Charcoal recovered from middens and graves in the neolithic site of Kadero, north of Khartoum, Sudan was analysed. The site lies within the semi-desert vegetation zone at present. During the occupation period (5960-5030 uncal B.P.), a scrub and thorn savanna grew around the site. It is further suggested that the vegetation during the neolithic period at Kadero was already under strong human impact through controlled fires, felling and grazing.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Amin HA El (1976) Geographical distribution of the Sudan Acacias. For Res Inst Bull 2
Amin HA El (1990) Trees and shrubs of the Sudan. Ithaca press, Exeter.
Arkell A (1953) Shaheinab. Oxford University press, London
Chabal L (1988) Pourquoi et comment prélever les charbons de bois pour la période antique: les méthodes utilisées sur le site de lattes (Hérault). Lattara 1: 187–222
Chabal L (1992) La représentativité paléo-écologique des charbons de bois archéologiques issus du bois de feu. Bull Soc Bot France 139 (2–3–4): 213–236
Gabriel B (1987) Palaeoecological evidence from neolithic fireplaces in the Sahara. African Archaeol Rev 5: 93–103.
Gautier A (1984) The fauna of the neolithic site of Kadero (central Sudan). In Krzyzaniak L, Kobusiewicz M (eds) Origin and early development of food producing cultures in north-eastern Africa. Poznan, pp 317–319
Halwagy R (1961) The vegetation of the semi-desert north east of Khartoum, Sudan. Oikos 12(1): 87–110
Harrison MN, Jackson JK (1958) Ecological classification of the vegetation of the Sudan. Forest Bull ns 2: 1–45
Haynes CV (1982) Great sand sea and Selima sand sheet, eastern Sahara: geochronology of desertification. Science 217: 629–633
Haynes CV (1987) Holocene migration rates of the sudano-sahelian wetting front, Arba'in desert, eastern Sahara. In Close A (ed) Prehistory of arid North Africa: Essays in the honor of Fred Wendorf. SMU press, Washington DC, pp 69–84
Haynes CV, Mehringer PJ, Zaghloul SA (1979) Pluvial lakes of the north-western Sudan. Geogr J 145(3): 437–445
Jackson JK (1957) Changes in the climate and vegetation of the Sudan. Sudan Notes and Records 38: 47–66
Jagiella C, Kürschner H (1987) Atlas der Hölzer Saudi-Arabiens. TAVO, A, 20, Reichert, Wiesbaden
Klichowska M (1984) Plants of the neolithic Kadero (central Sudan): a palaeoethnobotanical study of the plant impressions on pottery. In Krzyzaniak L, Kobusiewicz M (eds) Origin and early development of food producing cultures in north-eastern Africa. Poznan, pp 321–326
Kröpelin S, Soulie-Marsche I (1991) Charophyte remains from Wadi Howar as evidence for deep mid holocene freshwater lakes in the eastern Sahara of northwest Sudan. Quat Res 36: 210–223
Krzyzaniak L (1980) The origin of pastoral adaptation in the nilotic savanna. Proceedings 8th Panafrican Congress Prehistory Nairobi, 1977: 265–267
Krzyzaniak L (1984) The neolithic habitation at Kadero (central Sudan). In Krzyzaniak L, Kobusiewicz M (eds) Origin and early development of food producing cultures in north-eastern Africa. Poznan, pp 309–315
Krzyzaniak L (1991) Early farming in the middle Nile basin: recent discoveries in Kadero. Antiquity 65(248): 515–532
Mchringer PJ (1975) Investigation of Holocene lake sediments, Bir Merga, Sudan and the western desert, Egypt. Nat Geogr Soc Res Rep 1975: 487–499
Mehringer PJ (1982) Early Holocene climate and vegetation in the eastern Sahara: the evidence from Selima oasis, Sudan. Geol Soc Am Abstr 14: 564
Mellars P (1976) Fire ecology, animal populations and man: a study of some ecological relationships in prehistory. Proc Prehistoric Soc 42: 15–45
Mensching H (1980) 1986. Is the desert spreading? Desertification in the Sahel zone of Africa. In Applied geography and development. Institute. for scientific Cooperation: 7–18
Mensching H (1987) Die Grenzen der Sahara in Raum und Zeit: geomorphologische Bemerkungen zum Klima der nordafrikanischen Wüste vom Tertiär bis Heute. Nova Acta Leopold NF 53, 24: 169–184
Mensching H, Ibrahim F (1978) Desertifikation in der Sahelzone der Republik Sudan. Afrika Spektrum 13: 15–20
Neumann K (1987) Middle Holocene vegetation of Gilf Kebir, S W Egypt: a reconstruction. Palaeoecol Africa 18: 179–188
Neumann K (1989a) Vegetationsgeschichte der Ostsahara im Holozän: Holzkohlen aus prähistorischen Fundstellen (mit einem Exkurs über die Holzkohlen von Fachi-Dogouboulo/Niger). Africa praehistorica 2: 13–181
Neumann K (1989b) Holocene vegetation of the Eastern Sahara: charcoals from prehistoric sites. African Archaeol Rev 7: 97–116
Neumann K (1993) Holocene prehistoric economies in the Eastern Sahara. In Thorweihe TH, Schandelmeier TH (eds) Geoscientific research in northeast Africa. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 609–611
Neumann K (1994) Wirtschaftweisen im Neolithikum der Ostsahara und ihr Einfluss auf die Vegetation. In Bollig M, Klees F (eds) Überlebensstrategien in Afrika, Köln: pp 47–65
Neumann K, Schulz E (1987) Middle Holocene savanna vegetation in central Sahara. Preliminary report. Palaeoecol Africa 18: 163–166
Obeid M, Seif El Din (1971) Ecological studies of the vegetation of the Sudan I. Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. and its natural regeneration. J Applied Ecol 7: 507–518
Ohtani J, Ishida S (1976) Study on the pit of wood cells using scanning electron microscopy. 5. Vestured pits in Japanese dicotyledonous woods. Research Bulletins of the college Experimental Forests and Agriculture Hokkaido University, 33(2): 407–436
Pachur HJ, Hoelzmann P (1991) Palaeoclimatic implications of late quaternary lacustrine sediments in western Nubia, Sudan. Quat Res 36: 257–276
Pachur HJ, Kröpelin S (1987) Wadi Howar: palaeoclimatic evidence from an extinct river system in the southeastern Sahara. Science 237: 298–300
Ritchie JC (1987) A Holocene pollen record from Bir Atrun, north west Sudan. Pollen Spores 29(4): 391–410
Ritchie JC (1994) Holocene pollen spectra from Oyo, northwestern Sudan. Problems of interpretation in a hyperarid environment. Holocene 4(1): 9–15
Ritchie JC, Eyles CH, Haynes CV (1985) Sediment and pollen evidence for a middle Holocene humid period in the Eastern Sahara. Nature 314: 352–355
Ritchie JC, CV Haynes (1987) Holocene vegetation zonation in the Eastern Sahara. Nature 330: 645–647
Smart TL, Hoffman ES (1989) Environmental interpretation of archaeological charcoal. In Hastorf CA, Popper VS (eds). Current palaeoethnobotany, analytical methods and cultural interpretations of archaeological plant remains. University of Chicago press, Chicago, pp 167–205
Smith AB (1980a) The neolithic tradition in the Sahara. In Williams MAJ, Faure H (eds) The Sahara and the Nile. Balkema, Rotterdam pp. 451–465
Smith AB (1980b) Domesticated cattle in the Sahara and their introduction into West Africa. In Williams MAJ, Faure H (eds) The Sahara and the Nile. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 489–501
Smith J (1949) Distribution of the species in the Sudan in relation to rainfall and soil texture. Ministry of Agriculture Bulletin 4
Stemler A (1990) A scanning electron microscopic analysis of plant impressions in pottery from the sites of Kadero, El Zakiab, Um Direiwa and El Kadada. Archéologie du Nil Moyen 4: 87–105
Werger MJA (1983) Tropical grasslands, savannas, woodlands: natural and man-made. In Holzner W, Werger MJA, Ikusima I (eds). Man's impact on vegetation. Junk, The Hague, pp 107–138
White F (1986) Vegetation map of Africa. ORSTOM-UNESCO, Paris
Wickens GE (1975a) Quaternary plant fossils from the Jebel Marra volcanic complex and their palaeoclimatic interpretation. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 17 (2): 109–122
Wickens GE (1975b) Changes in the climate and vegetation of the Sudan since 20,000 B.P. Boissiera 24: 43–65
Wickens GE (1982) Palaeobotanical speculations and quaternary environments in the Sudan. In Williams MAJ, Adamson DA (eds) A land between two Niles. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 23–50
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barakat, H.N. Middle Holocene vegetation and human impact in central Sudan: charcoal from the neolithic site at Kadero. Veget Hist Archaebot 4, 101–108 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00206918
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00206918