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Archaeological survey in the Blue Nile area, Central Sudan

2003; Servicio de Publicaciones; Issue: 14 Linguagem: Inglês

1988-2327

Vı́ctor M. Fernández, Mario Menéndez Fernández, Alfredo Jimeno Martínez, Javier Lario,

Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

espanolSe presentan los resultados de una prospeccion intensiva del area de Wadi Soba-el-Hasib al este de Jartum en la orilla oriental del Nilo Azul y una exploracion del Nilo Azul aguas arriba hasta Singa. El objetivo principal fueron los restos prehistoricos, con un 80% de yacimientos mesolfticos (Early Khartoum), siendo el resto neolftico (Shaheinab-Jebel Moya) junto a escasos restos paleolfticos. Por primera vez se han registrado yacimientos importantes del Neolftico Final en el Sudan Central, siempre en areas lejanas al Nilo de la Butano y la Gezira. Se han aplicado metodos estadisticos multivariantes a los procesos de formacion, seriacion ceramica y modelos de asentamiento. Se advierte el paso primero de una explotacion acuatica por grupos moviles a una concentracion demografica de cazadores-pastores de sabana, que luego adoptan una economia movil con tumulos funerarios como unico resto arqueologico hasta la epoca moderna. EnglishThe results are presented of an intensive survey of the Wadi Soba-el-Hasib area east of Khartoum on the east bank of the Blue Nile and the exploration of the Blue Nile Basin upstream to Singa. The survey focused mainly on the Prehistoric sites, with the Mesolithic period (Early Khartoum) as the mostly represented with more than 80% of the discovered sites, the Neolithic sites (Shaheinab-Jebel Moya) making up most of the remainder 20%. Very few Palaeolithic sites were recorded. Late Neolithic sites of large size have been found for the first time in the Central Sudan, all of them located away from the Blue Nile in the Butana and Gezira plains. Site structure and formation processes, ceramic seriation and settlement patterns have been analysed applying statistical multivariate methods to the survey quantitative data. Some historical trends have been noticed. The first is the change from a Nilewadi aquatic exploitation by small mobile groups towards demographic concentration of near-sedentary savanna hunting-herding populations. During the Late Neolithic period the groups adopted a mobile economy and their only archaeological record thereafter are the burial tumuli fields up to the Christian and Islamic periods.