Object structure
Title:

Neolithic Inhabitants of Khor Shambat 1, Sudan

Subtitle:

Archaeologia Polona Vol. 58 (2020)

Creator:

Jórdeczka, Maciej ; Stanaszek, Łukasz Maurycy ; Bobrowski, Przemysław ; Chłodnicki, Marek ; Sobkowiak-Tabaka, Iwona

Publisher:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology Polish Academy of Sciences

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2020

Description:

ill. ; 24 cm

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

Khor Shambat ; Central Sudan ; Omdurman ; Neolithic ; cemetery ; graves

Abstract:

Ever since Arkell launched research excavation in Shaheinab, many Neolithic sites of varying scientific value have been discovered in Central Sudan. These discoveries included both sites and cemeteries that shed some light not only on the economy, but also on the social structure and beliefs of ancient populations. Sites such as Kadero, el‑Geili, el‑Ghaba, Shaqadud and el‑Kadada have become benchmarks for describing and understanding the Neolithic in Central Sudan. In recent years, another exceptional site has joined this group – Khor Shambat 1 (KSH 1). Research here has revealed a Mesolithic and Neolithic site. The investigation of about 1% of the area of KSH 1 uncovered 66 graves, including about 30 Neolithic ones. Yet this relatively low number of occurrences included burials which shed a very interesting light on the local communities. Especially noteworthy is the extraordinary approach to burials of children and in particular the youngest members of the community, newborns and fetuses; their graves are by far the richest. Some of them were buried in ceramic vessels and equipped with numerous gifts. The most distinctive grave in terms of the wealth of its burial goods is that of a female who died in advanced pregnancy. The chronology of the Neolithic site and cemetery, determined on the basis of a series of radiocarbon dates and ceramics analyses, is generally set in the second half of the 5th millennium BC.

References:

Acsádi, G. and Nemeskéri, J. 1970. History of Human Life Span and Mortality, Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó
Ahmed, M. A. M. and Bakry, A. 2017. Prehistoric Child Burials in Sudan, Der Antike Sudan. Mitteilungen der Sudanarchäologischen Gesellschaft zu Berlin e. V 28: 47–68
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, Oxford University Press
Arriaza, B., Allison, M. and Gerszten, E. 1988. Maternal mortality in pre-Columbian Indians of Arica, Chile, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 77: 35–41
Bacvarov, K. 2008. A long way to the West: earliest jar burials in southeast Europe and the Near East. In K. Bacvarov (ed.), Babies Reborn: Infant/Child Burials in Pre- and Protohistory, Proceedings of WS26 at the XVth UISPP Congress in Lisbon, September 2006, Oxford, Archaeopress, British, Archaeological Research International Series 1832, 61-70
Bar-Yosef, D. E. 2002. Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction during the fourth and third Millennia B. C.: The shell connection. In E. C. M. van den Brink and T. E. Levy (eds), Egypt and the Levant: Interrelations from the 4th through the Early 3rd Millennium B. C. E., Continuum, London, 129-135
Bass, W. M. 1995. Human osteology: a laboratory and field manual, Missouri Archeological Society
Bobrowski, P., Jórdeczka, M., Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I. and Binder M. 2016. Khor Shambat 1: New Neolithic site and cemetery in Omdurman (Sudan), Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 25: 447–478
Bochenek, A. and Reicher, M. 1990. Anatomia człowieka, t. 1, Warszawa, PZWL Wydawnictwo Lekarskie
Brickley, M., and McKinley, J. I. (eds). 2004. Guidelines to the standards for recording human remains, Institute of Field Archaeologists Paper Number 7
Brooks, S. and Suchey, J. M. 1990. Skeletal age determination based on the os pubis: a comparison of the Acsádi-Nemeskéri and Suchey-Brooks methods, Human Evolution 5: 227–238
Buckley, S., Usai, D., Jakob, T., Radini, A. and Hardy, K. 2014. Dental calculus reveals unique insights into food items, cooking and plant processing in prehistoric Central Sudan, PLoS ONE 9(7): e100808. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0100808
Buikstra, J. E. and Ubelaker, D. H. 1994. Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Proceedings of a seminar at the Field Museum of Natural History, Fayetteville Ark, Arkansas Archeological Survey, Research Series 44
Caneva, I. 1988. El Geili. The history of a middle Nile environment 7000 B.C.–A.D. 1500, Oxford, Archaeopress, British Archaeological Research International Series 424
Caneva, I., Garcea, E. A. A., Gautier, A. and Van Neer, W. 1993. Prepastoral cultures along the Central Sudanese Nile, Quaternaria Nova 3: 177–252
Chłodnicki, M. 2018. Stratigraphy of the Kadero Neolithic cemetery. In M. Honegger (ed.), Nubian archaeology in the XXIst century. Proceedings of the XIII International Conference of Nubian Studies, Neuchâtel, 1st–6th September 2014, Leuven-Paris-Bristol, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 273, 215-222
Chłodnicki, M., Kobusiewicz, M. and Kroeper, K. (eds). 2011. Kadero, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 10
Chłodnicki, M. and Kabaciński, J. 2015. Radiocarbon dates from Kadero revised. In J. Kabaciński, M. Chłodnicki and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Hunter-Garterers and Early Food Producing Societies in Northern Africa, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 14, 195-217
Cruz, C. B. and Codinha S. 2010. Death of mother and child due to dystocia in 19th century Portugal, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 20: 491–96
Czarnetzki, A. 1972. Epigenetische Skelettmerkmale im Populationsvergleich. II. Frequezunterschiede zwichen den Geschechtern, Zeitschrift für Morphologie und Anthropologie 63: 341–350
Fairgrieve, S. I. and Molto, J. E. 2000. Cribra orbitalia in two temporally disjunct population samples from the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 111: 319–331
Fattovich, R. and Piperno, M. 1981. Survey of the Gash Delta – November 1980, Nyame Akuma 19: 26–30
Fernandez, V. M., Jumeno, A. and Menéndez, M. 2003. Archaeological excavations in prehistoric sites of the Blue Nile area, Central Sudan, Complutum 14: 273–374
Gautier, A. and Van Neer, W. 2011. The fauna of Kadero and the arrival of pastoralism in the Nile Valley of Central Sudan. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 10, 375-408
Geus, F. 1984a. Rescuing Sudan Ancient Cultures, Khartoum
Geus, F. 1984b. Excavations at El Kadada and the Neolithic of the Central Sudan. In L. Krzyżaniak and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Origin and early development of food-producing cultures in North-Eastern Africa, Poznań, Poznan Archaeological Museum, 361-372
Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, J. J. 1976. Zmiany w układzie kostnym ludności ze średniowiecznych cmentarzysk, Badania populacji ludzkich na materiałach współczesnych i historycznych. Seria Antropologia 4: 85–102
Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, J. J. 1989. Schorzenia ludności prahistorycznej na ziemiach polskich, Gdańsk, Muzeum Archeologiczne w Gdańsku
Gładykowska-Rzeczycka, J. J. 1994. Problems of estimating age and determining the profession when analyzing prehistoric skeletons, Anthropologie 32(1): 85–92
Hamd, A. H. N. 2012. Qalaat Shanan: a large Neolithic site in Shendi town, Sudan and Nubia 16: 8–12
Hamd, A. H. N. 2015. The Late Neolithic at Qalaat Shanan site within Shendi Reach. In J. Kabaciński, M. Chłodnicki and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Hunter-Gatherers and Early food Producing Societies in northeaster Africa, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 14, 159-176
Hawke, S. C. and Wells, C. 1975. An Anglo-Saxon obstetric calamity from Kingsworthy, Hampshire, Medical and Biological Illustration 25(1): 47–51
Hays, T. R. 1971. The Karmakol industry: Part of the Khartoum Horizon-Style. In J. L. Shiner (ed.), The prehistory and geology of Northern Sudan. Report to National Science Foundation, Arlington,Va: National Science Foundation, 84-153
Hays, T. R. 1976. An examination of the Sudanese Neolithic. In B. Abebe, J. Chavaillon and J. E. G. Sutton (eds), Proceedings of the Panafrican Congress of Prehistory and Quaternary Studies, VII Session, Addis Abeba 1971, Addis Abeba, Ministry of Culture, 85-92
Honneger, M. 2004. Settlement and cemeteries of the Mesolithic and Early Neolithic at el‑Barga (Kerma region), Sudan and Nubia 8: 1–6
Honneger, M. 2005. El-Barga: un site elé pour la comprehension du Mésolithique et du début du Néolithique en Nubie, Revue de Paléobiologie 10: 95–104
Jórdeczka, M., Chłodnicki, M., Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I. and Stanaszek, Ł. M. 2020. Rebirth in the afterlife: Neolithic pot burials from Khor Shambat, Sudan, AZANIA: Archaeological Research in Africa 55(1): 1–25
Kabaciński, J. 2011. Comments on radiocarbon dates. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 10, 411-420
Krzyżaniak, L. 1975. Kadero (first season, 1972), Etudes et Travaux 8: 361–366
Krzyżaniak, L. 1984. The Neolithic Habitation at Kadero (Central Sudan). In L. Krzyżaniak and M. Kobusiewicz (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, Poznań, 309-316
Krzyżaniak, L. 1992. Schyłek pradziejów w środkowym Sudanie, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 3
Krzyżaniak, A. 2011. Neolithic cemetery. In M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz and K. Kroeper (eds), Kadero, Poznań, Studies in African Archaeology 10, 215-266
Lecointe, Y. 1997. Le site néolithique d’el Ghaba: deux années d’activité (1985–1986), Archéologie du Nil Moyen 2: 69–87
Lieverse, A. R., Bazaliiskii, V. I. and Weber, A. W. 2015. Death by twins: a remarkable case of dystocic childbirth in Early Neolithic Siberia, Antiquity 89: 23–38
Lovejoy, C. O., Meindl, R. S, Pryzbeck, T. R. and Mensforth, R. P. 1985. Chronological metamorphosis of the auricular surface of the ilium: A new method for the determination of age at death, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 68(1): 15–28
Malgosa, A., Alesan, A., Safont, S., Ballbé, M. and Ayala, M. M. 2004. A dystocic childbirth in the Spanish Bronze Age, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 14: 98–103
Malinowski, A. and Wolański, N. 1988. Metody badań w biologii człowieka. Wybór metod antropologicznych, Warszawa, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe
Marks, A. E. and Ferring, C. R. 1971. The Karat group: An early ceramic bearing occupation of the Dongola Reach. In J. L. Shiner (ed.), The Prehistory and Geology of Northern Sudan, Report to National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va: National Science Foundation, 187-275
Marks, A. E., Hays, T. R. and De Heinzelin, J. 1986. Preliminary report of the Southern Methodist University Expedition in the Dongola Reach, KUSH 15: 165–192
Martin, R. and Saller, K. 1957. Lehrbuch der Anthropologie in systematischer Dartstellung, Stuttgart, Fischer
Mohammed-Ali, A. S. and Khabir, A. M. 2003. The Wavy Line and Dotted Wavy Line pottery in the prehistory of the Central Nile and the Sahara-Sahel belt, African Archaeological Review 20(1): 25–58
Moreton, S. G., Rosqvist, G. C., Davies, S. J. and Bentley, M. J. 2004. Radiocarbon reservoir ages from freshwater lakes, South Georgia, Sub-Antarctic: modern analogues from particulate organic matter and surface sediments, Radiocarbon 46: 621–626
Nordström, H. A. 1972. Neolithic and A-Group sites. The Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia III, Stockholm, Scandinavian University Press
Ortner, D. J. 2003. Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains, San Diego, London, Elsevier
Ortner, D. J. and Putschar, W. G. J. 1981. Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains, Washington, Smithsonian Contribution to Anthropology 28
Owsley, D. W. and Bradtmiller, B. 1983. Mortality of pregnant females in Arikara villages: osteological evidence, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 61: 331–336
Persson, O. and Persson, E. 1984. Anthropological report on the Mesolithic graves from Skateholm, southern Sweden. I: excavation seasons 1980–82, Lund, Institute of Archaeology, University of Lund
Philippsen, B. 2013. The freshwater reservoir effect in radiocarbon dating, Heritage Science 1: 24
Piontek, J. 1999. Biologia populacji pradziejowych. Zarys metodyczny, Poznań, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM
Pounder, D., Prokopec, M. and Pretty, G. 1983. A probable case of euthanasia amongst prehistoric Aborigines at Roonka, South Australia, Forensic Science International 23: 99–108
Power, R. K. and Tristant, Y. 2016. From refuse to rebirth: repositioning the pot burial in the Egyptian archaeological record, Antiquity 90(354): 1474–1488
Rascón Pérez, J., Cambra-Moo, O. and González Martín, A. 2007. A multidisciplinary approach reveals an extraordinary double inhumation in the osteoarchaeological record, Journal of Taphonomy 5: 91–101
Reinold, J. 2007. La nécropoloe néolithique d’ el‑Kadada au Soudan central. Les cimetieres A et B (NE-36-O/3-V-2 et NE-36-O/3-V-3) du kôm principal, Paris
Rogers, J. and Waldron, T. 1995. A field guide to joint disease in archaeology, Wiley-Blackwell
Sadig, A. M. 2008. Es-Sour: a Neolithic site near Meroe, Sudan, Antiquity Project Gallery 82(316), http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/sadig316/
Sadig, A. M. 2012. Individuals and families: traditions of burials in the Sudanese Neolithic 5000–3000 BC, Journal of Harran University Medical Faculty 29(1): 58–93
Sadig, A. M. 2014. Individuals and families: traditions of burials in the Sudanese Neolithic 5000–3000 BC (Correction and update), ADAB. Journal of Faculty of Arts. University of Khartoum 32: 115–118
Salvatori, S. 2012. Disclosing archaeological complexity of the Khartoum Mesolithic: New data at the site and regional level, African Archaeological Review 29: 399–472
Salvatori, S., Usai, D. and Zerboni, A. 2011. Mesolithic site formation and palaeoenvironment along the White Nile (Central Sudan), African Archaeological Review 28: 177–211
Salvatori, S. and Usai, D. 2016. Ghaba in Context. In S. Salvatori, D. Usai, and Y. Lecointe (eds), Ghaba. An early Neolithic cemetery in Central Sudan. Vol. 1, Frankfurt, Germany, 121-147
Salvatori, S., Usai, D. and Lecointe, Y. (eds). 2016. Ghaba. An early Neolithic cemetery in Central Sudan. Vol. 1, Frankfurt, Germany
Shiner, J. L. 1968a. The Khartoum variant industry. In F. Wendorf (ed.), The Prehistory of Nubia, Dallas, Texas, Southern Methodist University Press, 768-790
Shiner, J. L. 1968b. The cataract tradition. In F. Wendorf (ed.), The Prehistory of Nubia, Dallas, Texas, Southern Methodist University Press, 535-629
Shiner, J. L. (ed.) 1971. The prehistory and geology of northern Sudan, Report to National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va: National Science Foundation
Smith-Guzmán, N. E. 2015. Cribra orbitalia in the ancient Nile Valley and its connection to malaria, International Journal of Paleopathology 10: 1–12
Stein, M., Lazar, B. and Goldstein, S. L. 2013. Radiocarbon reservoir ages as freshwater-brine monitors in Lake Lisan, Dead Sea system, Radiocarbon 55: 1050–1057
Streit, K. 2016. Protohistoric infant jar burials of the Southern Levant in context: Tracing cultural influences in the late sixth and fifth Millennia BCE. In S. Ganor, I. Kreimerman, K. Streit and M. Mumcuoglu (eds), From Sha‘ar Hagolan to Shaaraim. Essays in honour of Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, 171-186
Strzałko, J., Piontek, J. and Malinowski, A. 1972. Problem rekonstrukcji wzrostu na podstawie kości zachowanych we fragmentach lub spalonych, Przegląd Antropologiczny 38(2): 277–287
Strzałko, J. and Henneberg, M. 1975. Określanie płci na podstawie morfologii szkieletu, Przegląd Antropologiczny 41(1): 105–126
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, Oxford, British Archaeological Reports International Series 567, 101-113
Trotter, M. and Gleser, G. C. 1952. Estimation of stature from long bones of American Whites and Negroes, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 10: 463–514
Ubelaker, D. H. 1978. Human skeletal remains. Excavation, analysis, interpretation, Chicago
Van den Brink, E. C. M., Horwitz, L. K., Kool, R., Liphschitz, N., Mienis, H. K. and Zbenovich, V. 2015. Excavations at Tel Lod: Remains from the Pottery Neolithic A, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age I, Middle Bronze Age I and Byzantine Periods, ‘Atiqot 82: 141–218
Wapler, U., Crubézy, 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
Wells, C. 1978. A medieval burial of a pregnant woman, The Practitioner 221: 442–444
White, T. D. and Folkens, P. A. 2005. The human bone manual, San Diego, Academic Press
Willis, A. and Oxenham, M. F. 2013. A case of maternal and perinatal death in Neolithic southern Vietnam, c. 2100–1050 BCE, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 23: 676–684
Zarifa G., Sholts, S. B., Tichinin, A., Rudovica, V., Vīksna, A., Engīzere, A., Muižnieks, V., Bartelink, E. J. and Wärmländer, S. K. T. S. 2016. Cribra orbitalia as a potential indicator of childhood stress: Evidence from paleopathology, stable C, N, and O isotopes, and trace element concentrations in children from a 17th–18th century cemetery in Jēkabpils, Latvia, Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology 38: 131–137

Relation:

Archaeologia Polona

Volume:

58

Start page:

135

End page:

163

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Format:

application/octet-stream

Resource Identifier:

0066-5924 ; doi:10.23858/APa58.2020.008

Source:

IAiE PAN, call no. P 357 ; IAiE PAN, call no. P 358 ; IAiE PAN, call no. P 356 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-SA 3.0 PL] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-SA 3.0 PL license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Access:

Open

×

Citation

Citation style: