THE FAUNAL REMAINS from SHAQADUD 197 Joris Peters, University of Ghent
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The Late Prehistory of the Eastern Sahel THE MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC OF SHAQADUD, SUDAN Edited by Anthony E. Marks and Abbas Mohammed-Ali SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY PRESS • DALLAS 0^ -/ 'J- 'sehe e/c Copyright © 1991 by Southern Methodist University Press Box 415 Dallas, Texas 75275 Universités- Printed in the United States of America Bibliothek All rights reserved München Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means or stored in a data base or retrieval system without prior written permission of the publisher. The paper in this book meets the standards for permanence and durability established by the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The late prehistory of the eastern Sahel : the Mesolithic and Neolithic of Shaqadud, Sudan / edited by Anthony E. Marks and Abbas Mohammed-Ali. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87074-310-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Shaqadud Cave (Sudan) 2. Mesolithic period—Sudan. 3. Neolithic period—Sudan. 4. Excavations (Archaeology)—Sudan. 5. Sudan—Antiquities. I. Marks, Anthony E. II. Mohammed-Ali, Abbas S. GN774.42.S73M47 1991 962.4'01 — dc20 90-52656 cm- -r CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii 1. INTRODUCTION: THE BUTANA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT (1980-85) 1 Anthony E. Marks, Southern Methodist University 2. LATE PREHISTORY IN THE CENTRAL SUDAN: BACKGROUND FOR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SHAQADUD 7 Anthony E. Marks 3. THE SHAQADUD AREA TODAY 23 Elanwar A. Magid, University of Khartoum 4. SHAQADUD AND THE 1981/83 EXCAVATIONS 33 Anthony E. Marks 5. THE MESOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC CERAMICS FROM SHAQADUD MIDDEN 65 Abbas Mohammed-Ali, King Saud University 6. THE STONE ARTIFACTS FROM SHAQADUD MIDDEN 95 Anthony E. Marks 7. THE LATE NEOLITHIC CERAMICS FROM SHAQADUD CAVE 123 Robin Robertson, Southern Methodist University 8. THE STONE ARTIFACTS FROM SHAQADUD CAVE 173 Anthony E. Marks 9. MACROFOSSIL PLANT REMAINS FROM SHAQADUD CAVE 193 Elanwar A. Magid 10. THE FAUNAL REMAINS FROM SHAQADUD 197 Joris Peters, University of Ghent 11. THE PLACE OF SHAQADUD IN THE LATE PREHISTORY OF THE CENTRAL NILE VALLEY 237 Anthony E. Marks and Abbas Mohammed-Ali APPENDICES: A. CERAMICS FROM SHAQADUD STUDIED BY PHYSICAL METHODS 261 Paul de Paepe, University of Ghent B. TWO SITES ABOVE SHAQADUD CANYON: S-21 AND S-17 267 Abbas Mohammed-Ali C. THE SMALL FINDS: ORNAMENTS AND TOOLS FROM SHAQADUD 277 Maria Masucci, Southern Methodist University BIBLIOGRAPHY 283 V ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As in any endeavor this large and complex, success with us contributed significantly and their efforts is due to the efforts of a large number of people, all of and general good humor are deeply appreciated. whom deserve many thanks. Of primary importance Those who participated, their affiliation at that time, is the major funding provided by the National Science and when they worked are listed below. Should any• Foundation since 1981 (Grants BNS-8102649 and one's name have been left out, it does not reflect on BNS-8407371 ) without which none of this work would their contribution but on our unwitting oversight. have been possible. Very significant additional sup• port was provided by the Department of Archaeology, First Field Season: 1981/82 University of Khartoum, in the form of personnel, help in logistics, and financial commitments. Without Shaqadud this help from the university, carrying out the project Dr. Anthony E. Marks (SMU) would have been extremely difficult. The assistance and support of Professor F. Abushama, Deputy Vice Dr. Abbas Mohammed-Ali (U of K) Chancellor, Professor O. Sid Ahmed, Dean of the Fac• Dr. YousefElamin(UofK) ulty of Arts, and his successor, Dr. I. Hardallu, were Dr. T. R. Hays (NTSU) particularly important and appreciated. Thanks are Dr. Karim Sadr(SMU) also due to the Sudan Antiquities Service for permit• Mr. Stephen Mbutu (SMU) ting us to work in the selected concession and for their Ms. Marie-Anne Demunyck (NTSU) help in granting permits to ship artifacts outside the country. Beyond the general help and cooperation of Mr. Hassan Al-Farrash (U of K) the Department of Archaeology, special thanks is due Mr. Ali B. Ali Dinar (U of K) Dr. A. Hakim for his assistance in excavations near Ms. Huda Mohammed (U of K) Khashm el Girba. Mrs. Kay Marks The Sudanese Army and General Abdul Azim Sid- Mr. Louis McNaughton dig, in particular, came to our aid during the first 1 Dr. Vern Scarborough (U of K) season at Shaqadud and supplied not only a water 2 tanker filled with drinkable water, as well as tents, but Dr. Mohammed A. Badin also a fine Christmas Eve party at the Shendi Officer's Southern Atbai Club which was much needed and will be long remem• bered. At Khashm el Girba, the Irrigation Authority Dr. Anthony E. Marks (SMU) headed by Sayed Abdul Rahim Abdul Hai generously Dr. Abbas Mohammed-Ali (U of K) lent us housing at no cost to us and, perhaps, most Dr. YousefElamin(UofK) important, made a barrel of gasoline available to us to Dr. Karim Sadr(SMU) get back to Khartoum at the end of the season, when gasoline was in extremely short supply. While these Dr. Stephen Mbutu (SMU) major acts are easy to remember and enumerate, our Ms. Marie-Anne Demunyck (NTSU) work in the Sudan was facilitated every day through Mr. Hassan Al-Farrash (U of K) innumerable small courtesies by the local inhabitants and the constant hospitality we encountered, for which the Sudan is justly famous. 'Dr. Scarborough spent a few days in both Shaqadud and the Atbai preparing the topographic maps of the main sites. He A good number of Sudanese students took some was a visiting lecturer at the University of Khartoum during part in the excavations, as did a smaller number of our work. Americans. Even those who worked only a few weeks department of Antiquities inspector. vii viii ACKNO WLEDGMENTS Mr. Ali B. Ali Dinar (U ofK) Dr. Yousef Elamin (U of K) Ms. Huda Mohammed (U of K) Mr. Anwar A. Magid (U of K) Mrs. Kay Marks Mr. Joris Peters (UG) Dr. Karim Sadr (SMU) Second Field Season: 1982/83 Mr. Stephen Mbutu (SMU) Shaqadud Finally, we would like to give particular thanks to Dr. T. R. Hays (NTSU) Mrs. Lucy Addington for her outstanding artifact il• Dr. Abbas Mohammed-Ali (U of K) lustrations; Mr. Bill Westbury, who produced the final Dr. Yousef Elamin (U of K) photographs for these volumes; Dr. Karim Sadr, who drafted most of the maps; Ms. Chris Christopher, who Mr. Anwar A. Magid (U of K) helped edit a number of chapters; Mr. Elanwar Magid, 1 Mr. Joris Peters (UG) whose original profiles of Shaqadud Cave and midden Dr. Karim Sadr (SMU) were well above standard; and David Pease, Nuno Dr. Stephen Mbutu (SMU) Bicho, Joào Ladiera, and Stephen Mbutu. Dr. Achilles Gautier (UG) Mr. Louis McNaughton Anthony E. Marks Department of Anthropology Mr. Abdullah Al-Nazier2 Southern Methodist University Southern Atbai Abbas S. A. Mohammed-Ali Dr. Anthony E. Marks (SMU) Department of Archaeology Dr. Abbas Mohammed-Ali (U of K) King Saud University 'University of Ghent. 2Department of Antiquities inspector. 10. THE FAUNAL REMAINS FROM SHAQADUD by Joris Peters INTRODUCTION cu.m. of deposit. They were generally coated by fine elastics with calcium carbonate which normally could The present study deals with the faunal material be removed with dilute HCl. The cleaned bones are collected by members of the Joint University of light yellow to yellowish brown. They generally ex• Khartoum/Southern Methodist University Butana hibit weathering cracks and can be placed in weather• Archaeological Project over two field seasons (Marks ing stage 1 sensu Behrensmeyer (1978). Radiocarbon et al. 1982, 1983). These sites are located at the south• analysis suggests a date of ca. 7,417 ± 67 B.P. for these ern end of an irregular, elongate sandstone outcrop, deposits. approximately 50 km. into the Butana at latitude 16° The midden deposits (Sl-B) contain over 3 m. 15', 13 km. east of Meroitic Naga. A more detailed of cultural material, which can be divided into four description and a map of the Jebel Shaqadud area can units based on ceramics and lithics. The radiocarbon be found elsewhere in this volume. dates for this sequence range from ca. 7,056 ± 321 B.P. The faunal remains reported here were obtained to 5,584 ±74 B.P. The faunal assemblage consisted of from three sites: S21, a site on the plateau into which some 3,300 fragments derived from approximately the valley of Shaqadud is cut; Sl-B (the midden) 20 cu.m. of deposits. They were heavily coated with which fills most of the valley; and SI-A; Shaqadud poorly sorted elastics embedded in calcium carbonate Cave, located at the back of the valley. Sampling was and were very difficult to clean even with hot diluted done by dry sieving with a mesh of 4 mm. Although HCl. Their color ranges from orange yellow to dark this does not insure complete recovery of vertebrate gray. The midden bone material can be classified in microfauna (Payne 1975; Meadow 1976), the samples weathering stages 1 and 2 sensu Behrensmeyer (1978): produced are comparable to those obtained at other weathering cracks and flaking of the outermost con• Sudanese sites, where similar screens have generally centric thin layers of bone. Specimens cemented by been used (cf. Gautier 1983). The sorting into identi• kunkur are not frequent. fiable and not identifiable animal remains, excavated The cave (SI-A) contains over 3.5 m.