Abstract
Northeast Africa is here taken to include Egypt and northern Sudan. It contains the arid heart of the Eastern Sahara, the driest region of the great desert, large parts of which now lie within the O-mm isohyet. Across this desert, however, there flows the River Nile, one of the world’s major rivers. The Nile is tightly confined within its steep-sided and cliff-lined valley, flowing through a land in which rainfall is a newsworthy event, so that the transition between the riverine valley and the desert proper is abrupt and measurable in meters. The modem environments of the valley and the desert could not be more different; similarly, the effects of the Pleistocene—Holocene transition upon these two zones could not have been more different.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ballmann, P, 1980, Report on the Avian Remains from Sites in Egyptian Nubia, Upper Egypt, and the Fayum, in: Loaves and Fishes: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya (F Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Department of Anthropology, Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, pp. 307-310
Banks, K. M., 1980, Report on Site E-78-10, in: Loaves and Fishes: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Department of Anthropology, Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, pp. 217-228
Barich, B. E., and Hassan, F. A., 1990, 11 Sahara e le oasi: Farafra nel Deserto Occidentale Egiziano, Sahara 3:53-62
Becker, M., and Wendorf, F, 1993, A Microwear Study of a Late Pleistocene Qadan Assemblage from Southern Egypt, Journal of Field Archaeology 20:389-398
Butzer, K. W, 1980, Pleistocene History of the Nile Valley in Egypt and Lower Nubia, in: The Sahara and the Nile (M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 253-280
Butzer, K.W, and Hansen, C. L., 1968, Desert and Riverin Nubia: Geomorphology and Prehistoric Environments at the Aswan Reservoir, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison
Caneva, I., 1988, The History of a Middle Nile Environment: A suggested cultural model, in: El Geili: The History of a Middle Nile Environment 700 B.C.-A.D 1500 (I. Caneva, ed.), British Archaeological Reports International Series 424, Oxford, pp. 359-377
Close, A. E., 1984, Report on Site E-80-1, in: Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, pp. 251-297
Close, A. E., 1989, Report on Site E-83-4: A Small A fian Surface Concentration in the Kubbaniya Dune Field, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya Volume 3: Late Paleolithic Archaeology (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 697-703
Close, A. E., 1992, Holocene Occupation of the Eastern Sahara, in: New Light on the Northeast African Past: Current Prehistoric Research (F. Klees and R. Kuper, eds.), Africa Praehistorica 5, Heinrich-Barth-Institut, Cologne, pp. 155-183
Close, A. E., and Wendorf, F, 1992, The Beginnings of Food-Production in the Eastern Sahara, in: Transitions to Agriculture in Prehistory (A. B. Gebauer and T. D. Price, eds.), Prehistory Press, Madison, WI, pp. 63-72
Close, A. E., Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1979, The Afian: A Study of Stylistic Variability in a Nilotic Industry, Department of Anthropology, Institute for the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Clutton-Brock, J., 1989, Cattle in Ancient North Africa, in: The Walking Larder: Patterns of Domestication, Pastoralism and Predation (J. Clutton-Brock, ed.), Unwin Hyman, London, pp. 200-206
Connor, D. R., and Marks, A. E., 1986, The Terminal Pleistoceneon the Nile: The Final Nilotic Adjustment, in: The End of the Paleolithic in the Old World (L. G.Straus, ed.), British Archaeological Reports International Series284, Oxford, pp. 171-199
Gabriel, B., 1986, Die ostliche Libysche Wuste im Jungquartar, Berliner Geographische Studien 19, Institut fur Physische Geographie der Technischen Universitat Berlin, Berlin
Gasse, F, Rognon, P, and Street, FA., 1980, Quaternary History of the Afar and Ethiopian Rift Lakes, in: The Sahara and the Nile (M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 361-400
Gautier, A., 1968, Mammalian Remains of the Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 80-99
Gautier, A., 1976a, Freshwater Mollusks and Mammals from Upper Palaeolithic sites Near Idfu and Isna, in Prehistory of the Nile Valley (by F. Wendorf and R. Schild), Academic Press, New York, pp. 349-364
Gautier, A., 1976b, Animal Remains from Localitiesnear Dishna, in: Prehistory of the Nile Valley (by F. Wendorf and R. Schild), Academic Press, New York, pp. 365-367
Gautier, A., 1984, Archaeozoology of the Bir Kiseibaregion, Eastern Sahara, in: Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, pp. 49-72
Gautier, A., 1989,A General Review of the Known Prehistoric Faunas of the Central Sudanese Nile Valley In: Later Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara (L. Krzyzaniak and M. Kobusiewicz, eds.), Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan Branch, and Poznan Archaeological Museum, Poznan, pp. 353-357
Gautier, A.,and Van Neer, W, 1989,AnimalRemainsfrom the Late Paleolithic Sequenceat Wadi Kubbaniya, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume2, Stratigraphy, Paleoeconomy, and Environment (F. Wendorfand R.Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 119-161
Greenwood, PH., 1968, Fish Remains, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 100-109
Haaland, R., 1987, Problems in the Mesolithic and Neolithic Culture-History in the Central Nile Valley, Sudan. In: Nubian Culture: Past and Present (T. Hagg, ed.), Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Konferenser 17, Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm, pp. 47-74
Haaland, R., 1992, Fish, Pots and Grain: Early and Mid-Holocene Adaptations in the Central Sudan, African Archaeological Review 10:43-64
Harlan, J. R., 1989, Wild-Grass Seed Harvesting in the Sahara and Sub-Sahara of Africa, in: Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation (D. R. Harris and G. C. Hillman, eds.) , Unwin Hyman, London, pp. 79-98
Hassan, F. A., 1972, Note on Sebilian Sites from Dishna Plain, Chronique d’Egypte 47:11-16
Hassan, F. A., 1974, The Archaeology of the Dishna Plain, Egypt: A Study of a Late Paleolithic Settlement, Papers of the Geological Survey of Egypt 59, Geological Survey of Egypt, Cairo
Hassan, F. A., 1988, The Predynastic of Egypt, Journal of World Prehistory 2:135-185
Hassan, F. A., and Gross,G.T., 1987, Resources and Subsistence during the Early Holocene at Siwa Oasis, Northern Egypt, in: Prehistory of Arid North Africa: Essays in Honor of Fred Wendorf (A.E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 85-103
Hassan, F. A.,and Wendorf, F, 1974,ASebilianAssemblage from ElKilh, Upper Egypt, Chronique d’Egypte 49:211-221
Hill, C. L., Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1989, Report on Site E-84-1:A multicomponent Paleolithic Site at Wadi Kubbaniya, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume 3, Late Paleolithic Archaeology (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 365-374
Hillman, G., Madeyska, E., and Hather, J., 1989,Wild Plant Foods and Diet at Late Paleolithic Wadi Kubbaniya:The Evidence from Charred Remains, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume2, Stratigraphy, Paleoeconomy, and Environment (F Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 162-242
Irwin, H. T., Wheat, J. B., and Irwin, L. F., 1968, University of Colorado Investigations of Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic Sitesin the Sudan, Africa, University of Utah Papers in Anthropology 90, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
Jones, C. E.R.,1989, Archaeochemistry: Fact or Fancy, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume2, Stratigraphy, Paleoeconomy, and Environment (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 260-266
Juel Jensen, H., Schild, R., Wendorf, F, and Close, A. E., 1991, Understanding the Late Palaeolithic Tools with Lustrous Edges from the Lower Nile Valley, Antiquity 65:122-128
Kuper, R., 1988, Neuere Forschungen zur Besiedlungsgeschichte der Ost-Sahara, Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt18: 127-142
Livingstone, D. A., 1980, Environmental Changes in the Nile Headwaters, in: The Sahara and the Nile (M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 339-359
Marks, A. E., 1968, The Sebilian Industry of the Second Cataract, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 461-531
Marks, A. E., Peters, J., and Van Neer, W, 1987, Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Occupations in the Upper Atbara River Valley, Sudan, in: Prehistory of Arid North Africa: Essays in Honor of Fred Wendorf (A.E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 137-161
McDonald, M. M. A., 1990. New Evidence from the Early to Mid-Holocene in Dakleh Oasis, South-Central Egypt, Bearing on the Evolution of Cattle Pastoralism, Nyame Akuma33:3-9
Neumann, K., 1989, Zur Vegetationsgeschichte der Ostsahara in Holozan. Holzkohlen aus Prahistorischen Fundstellen, in: Forschungen zur Umweltgeschichte der Ostsahara (R. Kuper, ed.), Africa Praehistorica 2, Heinrich-Barth-Institut, Cologne, pp. 13-181
Paulissen, E., 1986, Characteristics of the “Wild Nile” stage in Upper Egypt, Travaux et Documents de lORSTOM 197:367-369
Paulissen, E., and Vermeersch, F. M., 1987, Earth, man and climate in the Egyptian Nile Valley during the Pleistocene, in: Prehistory of Arid North Africa: Essays in Honor of Fred Wendorf (A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 29-67
Peters, J., 1991, Mesolithic Fishing along the Central Sudanese Nile and the Lower Atbara, Sahara 4:33-40
Petit-Maire, N., Burollet, H. F, Ballais, J.-L., Fontugne, M., Rosso, J. C., and Lazaar, A., 1991, Paleoclimats Holocenes du Sahara Septentrional, C. R. Acad. Sciences Paris, Serle II, 312:1661-1666
Potts, D. T., 1993, The Late Prehistoric, Protohistoric, and Early Historic Periods in Eastern Arabia (ca. 5000-1200 B.C), Journal of World Prehistory 7:163-212
Richter, J., 1989, Neolithic Sites in the Wadi Howar (Western Sudan), in: Later Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara (L. Krzyzaniak and M. Kobusiewicz, eds.), Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan Branch, and Poznan Archaeological Museum, Poznan, pp. 431-442
Rognon, F, 1976, Essai d’Interpretation des Variations Climatiques au Sahara Depuis 40000 ans, Revue de Geogra, phie Physique et de Geologie Dynamique 18:251-282
Schild, R., and Wendorf, F, 1989, The Late Pleistocene Nile in Wadi Kubbaniya, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume2, Stratigraphy, Paleoeconomy, and Environment (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 15-100
Schild, R., Chmielewska, M., and Wieckowska, H., 1968, The Arkinian and Shamarkian Industries, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 651-767
Shiner, J. L., 1968, The Cataract tradition, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 535-629
Smith, A. B., 1984, The origins of food-production in northeast Africa, in: Palaeoecology of Africa, Volume16 (J. A. Coetzee and E. M. van Zinderen Bakker, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 317-324
Smith, S. E., 1980, The Environmental Adaptation of Nomads in the West African Sahel: A Keyto Understanding Prehistoric Pastoralists, in: The Sahara and the Nile (M.A.J. Williams and H. Faure, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 467-487
Stemler, A., 1984, The Transition from Food Collecting to Food Production in Northern Africa, in: From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa (J. D. Clark and S. A. Brandt, eds.), University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 127-131
Stemler, A., 1990, A Scanning Electron Microscopic Analysis of Plant Impressions in Pottery from the Sites of Kadero, EI Zakiab, Urn Direiwa and EI Kadada, Archeologie du Nil Moyen 4:87-105
Van Neer, W, and Uerpmann, H.-F, 1989, Palaeoecological Significance of the Holocene Faunal Remains of the B.O.S.-Missions, in: New Light on the Northeast African Past: Current Prehistoric Research (F. Kleesand R. Kuper, eds.), Africa Praehistorica 5, Heinrich-Barth-Institut, Cologne, pp. 307-341
Vermeersch, PM., 1978, Elkab II: Epipaleolithique de la Vallee du Nil Egyptien, Universitaire Pers Leuven and Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, Leuven and Brussels
Vermeersch, P. M., Paulissen, E., and Van Neer, W, 1989, The Late Palaeolithic Makhadma Sites (Egypt), Their Environment and Subsistence, in: Later Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara (L. Krzyzaniak and M. Kobusiewicz,eds.), Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan Branch, and Poznan Archaeologial Museum, Poznan, pp.87-114
Wasylikowa, K., 1992, Exploitation of Wild plants by Prehistoric Peoples in the Sahara, Wurzburger Geographische Arbeiten 84:247-262
Wendorf, F, 1968a, Late Paleolithic sites in Egyptian Nubia, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 791-953
Wendorf, F, 1968b, Site 117:A Nubian Final Paleolithic Graveyard near Jebel Sahaba, Sudan, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F. Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 954-995
Wendorf, F, 1968c, Summary of Nubian Prehistory, in: The Prehistory of Nubia (F Wendorf, ed.), Fort Burgwin Research Center and Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 1041-1060
Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1976, Prehistory of the Nile Valley, Academic Press, New York
Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1980, Prehistory of the Eastern Sahara, Academic Press, New York
Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1989a, Report on Site E-81-5: A small Isnan assemblage, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume3, Late Paleolithic Archaeology (F Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 704-711
Wendorf, F, and Schild, R., 1989b, Summary and Synthesis, in: The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume 3, Late Paleolithic Archaeology (F. Wendorf and R. Schild, assemblers, and A. E. Close, ed.), Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, pp. 768-824
Wendorf, F, Schild, R. (assemblers), and Close, A. E. (ed.), 1984, Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas
Wendorf, F, Schild, R., (assemblers), and Close, A. E. (ed.), 1989a, The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume 2, Stratigraphy, Paleoeconomy, and Environment, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas
Wendorf, F, Schild, R. (assemblers), and Close, A. E. (ed.), 1989b, The Prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume3, Late Paleolithic Archaeology, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas
Wendorf, F, Close, A. E., Schild, R., Wasylikowa, K., Housley, R. A., Harlan, J. R., and Krolik, H., 1992, Saharan Exploitation of Plants 8,000 Years BP, Nature 359:721-724
Wendorf, F, Schild, R., Close, A. E., and associates, 1993, Egypt during the Late Interglacial: The Middle Paleolithic of Bir Tarfawi and Bir Sahara East, Plenum Press, New York
Wenke, R. J., Long, J. E., and Buck, P. E., 1988, Epipaleolithic and Neolithic Subsistence and Settlement in the Fayyum Oasis of Egypt, J. Field Archaeology 15:29-51
Wickens, G. E., 1975, Changes in the climate and vegetation of the Sudan since 20,000 B.P, Boissiera 24:43-65
Williams, M. A. J., and Adamson, D. A., 1980, Late Quaternary Depositional History of the Blue and White Nile Rivers in Central Sudan, in: The Sahara and the Nile (M. A. J. Williams and H. Faure, eds.), Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 281-304
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Close, A.E. (1996). Plus Ça Change. In: Straus, L.G., Eriksen, B.V., Erlandson, J.M., Yesner, D.R. (eds) Humans at the End of the Ice Age. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1145-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1145-4_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8447-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1145-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive