Neolithic Pluvials and the Emergence of Social Complexity: Examples from Nabta Playa

Evidence across the northeastern Sahara suggests discrete phases of Neolithic activity during the Holocene climatic optimum. The sequence at Nabta Playa reveals three wet-dry phases bracketed by radiocarbon dates. The accompanying stratigraphic and cultural record reflects critical transitions from foraging to food production strategies involving domestication and animal husbandry, and points toward emerging traditions of social complexity.

The first settlements at Nabta Playa date between 11 000-9300 cal years ago, and include herders of domesticated(?) cattle who carried distinctive ceramic vessels decorated with wavy impressed patterns; this pottery is among the oldest known in Africa. In a similar manner to modern West African peoples, the Nabtans may have regarded their cattle as economic units of power, social status and prestige, as well as ‘walking larders’ that supplied milk and blood, rather than meat.

Once the playa dried up, people migrated to areas with more water, possibly to the Nile in the east or areas further south (see Africa, West: Herders, Farmers, and Crafts Specialists; Africa, South: Herders, Farmers, and Metallurgists of South Africa).

After 9000 years ago, larger settlements were established at Nabta; small huts were arranged in straight lines, and walk-in wells were dug to supply the Nabtan residents with enough water to stay for longer periods. People survived on a number of wild edible plants (sorghum, millets, legumes, tubers, fruits) and small animals, including hares and gazelles. Around 8800 years ago (7800 BP, uncalibrated), pottery was produced locally. Around 8100 years ago, there is evidence for the domestication of larger animals, goats and sheep (see Animal Domestication).

Between 8000 and 7000 years ago, Nabta was abandoned during two major droughts. As hyperarid conditions developed, the water table dropped, deflation persisted, and conditions became uninhabitable. The people returning to Nabta after the droughts were a complex society with an enhanced degree of organization and control, possibly centered around some ritualistic belief system associated with livestock. Excavated items supporting this inference include sacrifices of young cows and their burial in clay-lined and roofed chambers covered by stone slabs.

Nabtans also constructed 25+ complex building structures with surface and subterranean features, including a shaped stone that could represent the oldest sculpture in Egypt. They also erected megaliths, alignments of large stones, and an astronomical ‘calendar circle’ like Stonehenge that marked the solstice at 6500 BP.

Another significant find near Nabta is the first Neolithic cemetery in Egypt. A series of richly furnished graves date to -6400 and 6000 radiocarbon years BP (uncalibrated), and demonstrate patterns of local pastoralists who practiced transhumance during the later Neolithic period. In this manner, the Nabtan culture once again reflects that Saharan people had affliations with, and profound effects upon, the incipient Egyptian civilization that emerged from the Nile Valley as the region progressively aridified.

Further Reading: Burroughs WJ (2005) Climate Change in Prehistory: The End of the Reign of Chaos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kuper R and Kröpelin S (2006) Climate-controlled Holocene occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa’s Evolution. Science 313: 803-807.

Midant-Reynes B (1992) The Prehistory of Egypt. Oxford: Blackwell.
Nicoll K (2004) Recent environmental change and prehistoric human activity in Egypt and northern Sudan. Quaternary Science Reviews 23: 561-580.
Phillipson DW (1998) African Archaeology, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rice M (2003) Egypt’s Making. The Origins of Ancient Egypt 5000-2000BC, 2nd edn. London: Routledge.
Shaw T, Sinclair P, Andah B, and Okpoko A (eds.) (1995) The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. London: Routledge.
Wendorf FA and Schild RA (1980) Prehistory of the Eastern Sahara. New York: Academic Press