Jebel Sahaba

Jebel Sahaba
Jebel Sahaba (جبلْ سَحَبَ)
Location Sudan
Coordinates 21°59′N 31°20′E / 21.983°N 31.333°E / 21.983; 31.333Coordinates: 21°59′N 31°20′E / 21.983°N 31.333°E / 21.983; 31.333

Jebel Sahaba (also Site 117) is an ancient cemetery site in the Nile Valley (now submerged in Lake Nasser), near the northern border of Sudan, associated with the Qadan culture, dated to the Younger Dryas (some 12,000 to 14,000 years old).[1][2] It was discovered in 1964 by a team led by Fred Wendorf.

The site is often cited as the oldest known evidence of warfare or systemic intergroup violence.[3]

Discovery

The original project that discovered the cemetery was the UNESCO High Dam Salvage Project.[4] This salvage dig project was a direct response to the raising of the Aswan Dam which stood to destroy or damage many sites along its path.

Three cemeteries are present in this area, two of which are collectively called Jebel Sahaba, one on either side of the Nile. A third cemetery nearby is referred to as Tushka.

Skeletal remains

61 individual skeletons were recovered at Jebel Sahaba, as well as numerous other fragmented remains. Of the men, women, and children buried at Jebel Sahaba, at least 45% percent died of violent wounds.[5] Pointed stone projectiles were found in the bodies of 21 individuals, suggesting that these people had been attacked by spears or arrows. Cut marks were found on the bones of other individuals as well.[5] Some damaged bones had healed, demonstrating a persistent pattern of conflict in this society.[5] A 2015 study identified the remains as physically sub-Saharan African (as opposed to Levantine Natufians, or North African Iberomaurusians).[6]

Curation

The skeletal remains and any other artifacts recovered by the UNESCO High Dam Salvage Project were donated by Wendorf to the British Museum in 2001; the collection arrived at the museum in March 2002.[7] This collection includes skeletal and fauna remains, lithics, pottery, and environmental samples as well as the full archive of Wendorf's notes, slides, and other material during the dig.

See also

References

  1. ↑ One skeleton was radiocarbon dated to approximately 13,140-14,340 years old; Dawn of Ancient Warfare. Ancient Military History. Retrieved December 17, 2011 Newer apatite dates indicate that the site is at least 11,600 years old. Antoine, Daniel; Zazzo, Antoine; Friedman, Renée (2013). "Revisiting Jebel Sahaba: new apatite radiocarbon dates for one of the Nile valley’s earliest cemeteries". American Journal of Physical Anthropology: 68. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22247.
  2. ↑ Antoine D., Zazzo A., Freidman R., "Revisiting Jebel Sahaba: New Apatite Radiocarbon Dates for One of the Nile Valley’s Earliest Cemeteries", American Journal of Physical Anthropology Supplement 56: 68 (2013).
  3. ↑ Kelly, Raymond (October 2005). "The evolution of lethal intergroup violence". PNAS. 102: 24–29. PMC 1266108 Freely accessible. PMID 16129826. doi:10.1073/pnas.0505955102.
  4. ↑ http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-173-2.pdf
  5. 1 2 3 Friedman, Renée. "Violence and climate change in prehistoric Egypt and Sudan". British Museum blog.
  6. ↑ Holliday TW., "Population affinities of the Jebel Sahaba skeletal sample: Limb proportion evidence. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology" 25 (2015), 466-476. "the body shape of the Jebel Sahaba humans is most similar to that of recent sub-Saharan Africans and different from that of either the Levantine Natufians or the northwest African ‘Iberomaurusian’ samples. Importantly, these results corroborate those of both Irish and Franciscus, who, using dental, oral and nasal morphology, found that Jebel Sahaba was most similar to recent sub-Saharan Africans and morphologically distinct from their penecontemporaries in other parts of North Africa or the groups that succeed them in Nubia."
  7. ↑ Margaret Judd, "Jebel Sahaba Revisited", Archaeology of Early Northeastern Africa, Studies in African Archaeology 9 (2006), 153–166.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.