POTTERY PRODUCTION AT THE MESOLITHIC SITE OF KABBASHI HAITAH (CENTRAL SUDAN): AN INTEGRATED MORPHOLOGICAL, PETROGRAPHIC AND MINERALOGICAL ANALYSIS (original) (raw)
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Technical Characteristics of the Mesolithic Pottery in El Goz sites (Central Sudan)
This study will sheds a light on the technical features of the pottery which has been collected from El-Goz sites which Located in the center of the Gezira state, south of Khartoum. The Mesolithic period witnessed the first production of pottery in the Nile basin, so the pottery during this period has witnessed a number of technical characteristics, which consisted in pulp, techniques of industry and hardness. The pottery industry had been affected by the raw material in the region such as mud, Nile Chert, animal remains and shells. This study is based on a hypotheses that the Pottery industry in this period has been accompanied by the development of technical and decorative stages refers to technical development We can witness it through the patterns of pottery during the Mesolithic in general way. This study also tries to answer many ofThis study will sheds a light on the technical features of the pottery which has been collected from El-Goz sites which Located in the center of the Gezira state, south of Khartoum. The Mesolithic period witnessed the first production of pottery in the Nile basin, so the pottery during this period has witnessed a number of technical characteristics, which consisted in pulp, techniques of industry and hardness. The pottery industry had been affected by the raw material in the region such as mud, Nile Chert, animal remains and shells. This study is based on a hypotheses that the Pottery industry in this period has been accompanied by the development of technical and decorative stages refers to technical development We can witness it through the patterns of pottery during the Mesolithic in general way. This study also tries to answer many of the questions related to the beginning of the Mesolithic industry in Sudan, how it started, where is the First evidence pottery industry and what are the main features of the pottery in this region. It also will make a comparison between the pottery assemblages from Al Goz sites and pottery witch found from other regions in central Sudan. the questions related to the beginning of the Mesolithic industry in Sudan, how it started, where is the First evidence pottery industry and what are the main features of the pottery in this region. It also will make a comparison between the pottery assemblages from Al Goz sites and pottery witch found from other regions in central Sudan.
Seventy Years of Pottery Studies in the Archaeology of Mesolithic and Neolithic Sudan
African Archaeological Review, 2021
This review article examines seventy years of research and methodological approaches to the analysis of Mesolithic and Neolithic pottery in Sudan. It begins with the studies done by A. J. Arkell at the end of the 1940s, leading to the definition of the Khartoum Mesolithic and Khartoum Neolithic ceramic traditions. The article then discusses the application of the concepts of ware, fabric, decorative technique, and chaîne opératoire to the analysis of pottery and the use of new classification tools and archaeometric methodologies. The implication of the concepts of cultural encounter and the communicative role of material culture for ceramic studies and the insights that ceramics can provide for understanding the interrelationships between humans and the landscape are also discussed.
Journal of Archaeological Science 46 125-143., 2014
Pottery from Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan), where a number of sites with well-preserved stratified archaeological sequences have been excavated and radiometrically dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (7000e4000 calibrated BC), was archaeometrically analysed with the main aim of quantifying the textural parameters of the inclusions in the ceramic pastes. A set of 360 samples was studied, and quantitative and qualitative information was obtained regarding paste production recipes and the raw materials used over time.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
In Upper Nubia (currently northern Sudan), the art of making pottery has a very ancient and durable tradition, dating back to the early Holocene and preceding the introduction of a food-producing economy. Ethnographic case studies have demonstrated that this tradition has been preserved in many areas of the country. This paper presents a comparative study of ancient and modern traditional ceramics from four prehistoric sites at Sai Island, in the river Nile, and a present-day workshop located in the nearby village of Abri. The aim of the study was to investigate any diachronic changes in the selection of clayey raw material and the technological processes of the manufacturing sequence. The study combined macroscopic and analytical approaches and examined a large set of ceramic and local clay samples by means of petrographic (OM), mineralogical (X-ray powder diffraction; XRPD) and chemical (X-ray fluorescence; XRF) analyses. The resulting data underline a remarkable continuity in raw material sourcing and composition, as well as in many technological processes, from the ceramic assemblages dating from Abkan cultural horizon (c. 5500 BCE) until to the present-day production in Abri. This continuity emerged after a preceding discontinuity, indicated by a different selection of clay raw material and tempers in the oldest production dating to the Khartoum Variant horizon (c. 7600-4800 BCE). 'choices', selecting from a range of possible raw materials, tools, energy sources, and techniques. Thus each technological choice is co-dependent on other technological choices which go together to form a particular chaîne opératoire" (Sillar and Tite, 2000, 3, 5). Furthermore, according to Gosselain (2012, 246), the chaîne opératoire represents a "powerful analytical tool which imposes systematization in data collection, as well as the acknowledgement of a variety of elements that are invariably brought together in the conduct of technical activities". This study examined the technological aspects of prehistoric ceramics from Sai Island in Upper Nubia, currently northern Sudan, dating from the Early-Middle Holocene (Khartoum Variant; c.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2014
Pottery from Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan), where a number of sites with well-preserved stratified archaeological sequences have been excavated and radiometrically dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods (7000e4000 calibrated BC), was archaeometrically analysed with the main aim of quantifying the textural parameters of the inclusions in the ceramic pastes. A set of 360 samples was studied, and quantitative and qualitative information was obtained regarding paste production recipes and the raw materials used over time.
Samples of Meroitic to Christian pottery from Jebel El-Ghaddar, near Old Dongola, and of pottery from the Nile's right bank between Karima and the 4th Cataract in Sudan, from Neolithic to Christian periods, were studied to get information on the areas of production and the technological changes during these periods. Chemical analysis, refiring series, thin section and technological studies of 51 samples in all yielded various groups of different raw materials and technology which can be correlated with regions, periods and archaeological pottery groups. The use of different plant material in the two regions as a temper for the domestic ware of the post-Meroitic period and the correlation of chemical groups with the sites where the pottery was found indicate local production. Traditions of pottery making can be seen between the Neolithic and Kerma periods in the Karima region. Another tradition is the use of Nile alluvium together with vegetable temper for pottery from the Kerma Culture horizon to the post-Meroitic period. Another raw material was used for utility ware from Meroitic to Christian periods, probably in local specialised workshops, with a tendency to a decline of technology during the post-Meroitic period.
Early to Mid–Holocene Pottery from Two Sites in the Bayuda Desert, Sudan
In: J. Kabaciński, M. Chłodnicki, M. Kobusiewicz, M. Winiarska-Kabacińska (Eds.) Desert and the Nile. Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara. Poznań Archaeological Museum. Poznań, 2018
This article discusses the pottery material from two early to middle Holocene sites from the western part of the Bayuda desert: BP133 and BP424. The sites are situated at a distance of ca. 60 km from each other in very different geological contexts. The site situated closer to the Nile – BP133, is located in the area of volcanic culminations (Basement Complex), while site BP424 is located within sedimentary deposits (Cretaceous Nubian Sandstone Formation). In both sites a small area was excavated.
2018 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (MetroArchaeo 2018) Proceedings, 2018
This paper presents and compares the results of compositional, technological and functional analyses of the ceramic assemblages from three Sudanese locations (Sai Island, Esh-Shaheinab and Jebel Sabaloka) of the ‘Mesolithic’ or Pre-Pastoral period (9th-6th millennium BC), which is locally called ‘Khartoum Variant’ in northern Sudan (Sai Island) and ‘Early Khartoum’ in central Sudan (Esh-Shaheinab and Jebel Sabaloka). These assemblages exhibit common technological features and similar exploitation of local raw materials and use of tempers. From a compositional point of view, they show a large spread, forming several small chemical clusters. Our results indicate that these very early potters had already quite a good knowledge of the local environment and were on their way to learn how to choose and manipulate locally available raw materials and tempers for pottery making since the mid-9th millennium BC.
Quaternary International, 2020
The site of Sphinx (SBK.W-60) is located about 3.5 km from the present Nile in the western part of Jebel Sabaloka, upstream of the Sixth Nile Cataract, in Sudan. This site uniquely includes Early Khartoum (Mesolithic) artifacts with no intrusive elements and has been dated from the ninth to the end of the sixth millennium cal BC. Excavations at Trench 7, in particular, brought to light a 1.2-m thick deposit with the quantitatively and qualitatively richest artifactual materials. Analysis and classification of the pottery assemblage from this site have been conducted with the aim of observing manufacturing techniques from a broad perspective correlating pottery production to cultural change and chronological variability. Analyses of the ceramic assemblage regarded visual examinations of the manufacturing techniques combined with petrographic (optical microscopy, OM) and chemical analyses (instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis, iNAA), observations of manufacturing and decorative techniques, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) on absorbed organic residues. The vertical distribution of the ceramic assemblage reveals consistent technological variability through the timespan of occupation of the site.
Petrography of Pottery from Meroe, Sudan
2019
Colour plate XL. "Meroe Kaolinitic" petrofabric (sample #1), plane-polarized light, field width 3mm. Colour plate XLV. "Kaolinitic-Nile mix" petrofabric (sample #5), plane-polarized light, field width 0.5 mm. with colourless amphibole (actinolite?) in the centre. Colour plate XLI. "Meroe Nile" petrofabric (sample #7), plane-polarized light, field width 3mm. Colour plate XLII. Kaolinitic clay nodule in "Kaolinitic-Nile mix" petrofabric (sample #4), plane-polarized light, field width 1mm. Colour plate XLIII. Red-clay slip on "Kaolinitic-Nile mix" petrofabric (sample #4), plane-polarized light, field width 1mm. Colour plate XLIV. "Kaolinitic-Nile mix" petrofabric with kaolinitic clay slip (sample #13), plane-polarized light, field width 3mm.