Introduction
Nabta Playa is an ancient ephemeral lake and prehistoric archaeological site located in southern Egypt (Wendorf et al. 2001; Fig. 1). Although the modern Nabta region is barren and lacks surface water due to its extremely arid climate, there was enough rainfall during antiquity to support a shallow 1,500 km2 lake and to sustain a savannah grassland and various human activities. Extensive excavations in the region of Nabta have yielded valuable insights regarding the local Late Stone Age – Neolithic culture – and the climate change that caused desertification in this part of Saharan North Africa during the Late Holocene (e.g., Wendorf & Schild 1980; Wendorf et al. 2001 and references therein).
Location of Nabta Playa in southern Egypt, approximately ~100 km west of the Nile River Valley and 50 km north of the Sudan border
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References
Close, A. E. (ed.) 1987. Prehistory of arid North Africa. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.
Kobusiewicz, M., J. Kabaciński, R. Schild, J. D. Irish & F. Wendorf. 2004. Discovery of the first Neolithic cemetery in Egypt’s western desert. Antiquity 78: 566–78.
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Further Reading
Close, A. E. 1990. Living on the edge: Neolithic herders in the eastern Sahara. Antiquity 64: 79-96.
Rice, M. 2003. Egypt’s making. The origins of ancient Egypt 5000–2000 BC. London: Routledge.
Malville, J. M., F. Wendorf, A. A. Mazar & R. Schild. 1998. Megaliths and Neolithic astronomy in southern Egypt. Nature 392: 488-91.
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Nicoll, K. (2014). Nabta Playa: Agriculture and Domestication. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2235
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