Khor Shambat, Early Khartoum, Neolithic, cemetery, graves, settlement, pottery, lithic inventory, archaeozoology
2016, 25, Vol. 25, Regular Issue
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology
Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Austrian Archaeological Institute in Vienna
Publication date
Publishing model
License type
Field
Discipline
Language of publication
Downloads
PDF 8 MB
Number of views:446
Number of downloads:100
Crossref citations:0
Altmetric score:0
Abstract
The locality of Khor Shambat in the Omdurman district of Khartoum was investigated in 2012. The site lies between two gorges draining water to the Nile Valley from the west. Testing established the site stratigraphy, dating the cultural level to the early Neolithic. The source material from this cultural level included vessel-type ceramics, microlithic stone artifacts, macrolithic stone tools and faunal remains. A cemetery containing 13 graves was investigated, the alignment of the burial pits and position of the interments leading to the conclusion that it started as a Neolithic burial ground and continued as a cemetery probably in Meroitic and post-Meroitic times. The archaeological, anthropological and archaeozoological data contributed new information on settlement on this site and in the broader overview, in central Sudan.
Keywords:
Bibliography
Arkell, A.J. (1949). Early Khartoum: An account of the excavation of an early occupation site carried out by the Sudan Government Antiquities Service in 1944–45. London: Oxford University Press
Arkell, A.J. (1953). Shaheinab: An account of the excavation of a Neolithic occupation site carried out for the Sudan Antiquities Service in 1949–50. London: Oxford University Press
Bobrowski, P. (2011). Bone implements. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10](pp. 347–353). Poznań: Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu
Caneva, I. (ed.) (1988). El Geili: The history of a middle Nile environment, 7000 B.C.–A.D. 1500[=BAR IS 424]. Oxford: B.A.R.
Caton-Thompson, G. and Gardner, E.W. (1934). The desert Fayum. London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Chłodnicki, M. (2011). Pottery. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10] (pp. 216–266). Poznań: Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu
Churchill, W. (2006). The river war: An account of the reconquest of the Sudan. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications
Ciałowicz, K.M. (2011). Mace heads. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10] (pp. 325–334). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Edwards, D.N. (2004). The Nubian past: An archaeology of the Sudan. London: Routledge
Fernandez, V.M., Jimeno, A., Menendez, M., and Lario, J. (2003). Archaeological survey in the Blue Nile area, Central Sudan. Complutum, 14, 201–272
Garcea, E.A.A. (2006). Pottery making processes at Esh Shaheinab, Sudan. In K. Kroeper, M. Chłodnicki, and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Archaeology of early Northeastern Africa: In memory of Lech Krzyżaniak [=Studies in African Archaeology 9] (pp. 99–112). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Geus, F. and Lecointe, Y. (2003). Survey and excavation at el-Multaga, a resettlement are related to the construction of the Merowe Dam: preliminary results. Sudan & Nubia, 7, 33–39
Honegger, M. (2004). El-Barga. In D.A. Welsby and J.R. Anderson (eds), Sudan: Ancient treasures. An exhibition of recent discoveries from the Sudan National Museum (pp. 31–34). London: British Museum Press
Jesse, F. (2003). Early ceramics in the Sahara and the Nile Valley. In L. Krzyżaniak, K. Kroeper, and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Cultural markers in the later prehistory of Northeastern Africa and recent research [=Studies in African Archaeology 8] (pp. 35–50). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Jordeczka, M. (2011). Stone implements. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10] (pp. 299–324). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Jordeczka, M., Krolik, H., Masojć, M., and Schild, R. (2011). Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: New data from Nabta Playa. Antiquity, 85(327), 99–115
Kobusiewicz, M. (1996). Technology, goals and efficiency of quartz exploitation in the Khartoum Neolithic: The case of Kadero. In L. Krzyżaniak, K. Kroeper, and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Interregional contacts in the later prehistory of northeastern Africa [=Studies in African Archaeology 5] (pp. 347–354). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Kobusiewicz, M. (2011). Lithic implements. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10] (pp. 267–297). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Krzyżaniak, A. (2011). Neolithic cemetery. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero: The Lech Krzyżaniak excavations in the Sudan [=Studies in African Archaeology 10] (pp. 57–198). Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum
Krzyżaniak, L. (1992). Schyłek pradziejów w środkowym Sudanie [The end of prehistory in central Sudan]. Poznań: Muzeum Archeologiczne w Poznaniu [in Polish]
Kusiak, J. (2013). Wyniki datowania metodą OSL i IRSL próbek osadów ze stanowisk w Sudanie [The results of the OSL/IRSL dating of the sediment samples from the sites in the Sudan]. Unpubl. typescript from the IAE PAN’s archives [in Polish]
Larsen, C.S. (1997). Bioarchaeology: Interpereting behavior from the human skeleton [=Cambridge Studies in Biological Anthropology 21]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Magid, A.A. (1995). The lithic material from the sites of Aneibis, Abu Darbein and El Damer. In R. Haarland and A.A. Magid (eds), Aqualithic sites along the rivers Nile and Atbara, Sudan (pp. 52–83). Bergen: Alma Mater Forlag
Marks, A.E., Mohammed-Ali, A., Peters, J., and Robertson, R. (1985). The prehistory of the Central Nile Valley as seen from its eastern hinterlands: Excavations at Shaqadud, Sudan. Journal of Field Archaeology, 12(3), 261–278
Mrozek-Wysocka, M. (2013). Ekspertyza petrograficzna i chemiczna próbek — Sudan, Omdurman [Petrographic examination and chemical analysis of samples — the Sudan, Omdurman]. Unpubl. typescript from the IAE PAN’s archives [in Polish]
Osypińska, M. (2013). Wstępna analiza archeozoologiczna szczątków zwierzęcych ze stanowiska Khor Shambat 1 — Chartum-Omdurman. Raport z sezonu 2012 [Preliminary archaeozoological analysis of animal remains from the site of Khor Shambat 1, Khartoum-Omdurman. A report from the 2012 season]. Unpubl. typescript from the IAE PAN’s archives [in Polish]
Rizkana, I. and Seeher, J. (1984). New light on the relation of Maadi to the Upper Egyptian cultural sequence. MDAIK, 40, 237–252
Rogers, J. and Waldron, T. (1995). A field guide to joint disease in archaeology. Chichester: J. Wiley
Sadig, A.M. (2010). The Neolithic of the Middle Nile region: An archeology of Central Sudan and Nubia. Kampala: Fountain Publishers
Salvatori, S., and Usai, D. (eds). (2008). A Neolithic cemetery in the northern Dongola Reach: Excavations at Site R12 [=BAR IS 1814]. Oxford: Archaeopress
Stuart-Macadam, P. (1991). Anaemia in Roman Britain. In H. Bush and M. Zvelebil (eds), Health in past societies: Biocultural interpretations of human skeletal remains in archaeological contexts [=BAR IS 567] (pp. 101–113). Oxford: Tempus Reparatum
Wapler, U., Crubezy, E., and Schultz, M. (2004). Is cribra orbitalia synonymous with anemia? Analysis and interpretation of cranial pathology in Sudan. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 123(4), 333–339
Other articles from the issue
- AlexandriaKom el-Dikkamedieval/Islamic cemeterybathsporticoconservation
Alexandria, Kom el-Dikka. Seasons 2014–2015. Appendix: Islamic cemetery at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria: research in the 2014 and 2015 excavation seasons
Grzegorz Majcherek, Emanuela Kulicka
- bioarchaeologyanthropologymedievalIslamiccemeteryKom el-DikkaAlexandriaEgypt
Kom el-Dikka 2014: human bones from Area U
Robert Mahler, Urszula Okularczyk
- AlexandriaKom el-Dikkacast glassmosaic floral plaquelate Roman glasslate Roman mosaic glassearly Byzantine glass
Glass finds from Areas U and G at the Kom el-Dikka site in Alexandria (excavations in 2012 and 2013)
Renata Kucharczyk
Similar publications
15.05.2017
el-DettitumuligravesEarly Makuriametal artifactsEarly Makuria Research Project: Interim report on the excavation at el-Detti in 2014 and 2015 with Appendix: Metal objects from the el-Detti cemetery
Zofia Kowarska, Szymon Lenarczyk, Mahmoud El-Tayeb, Ewa Czyżewska-Zalewska
15.05.2017
NeolithicPersian/Arabian GulfUbaidpotteryBahra 1Local and imported pottery in the Neolithic Gulf: a new perspective from the site of Bahra 1 in Kuwait
Anna Smogorzewska
28.02.2016
Saqqaranecropolispotterychild burial grave goodsOld KingdomMarl C fabricLate PeriodPtolemaic periodGreek amphoraeEB III Combed WareSaqqara 2012: the pottery
Teodozja I. Rzeuska