Between the Nile and the Desert: the Middle Stone Age of Kerma Region, Northern Sudan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Nile valley, its associated drainage system, and the adjacent Sahara are thought to have been part of the Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) dispersal routes out of Africa during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Building on the pioneering prehistoric work of Marks and colleagues in the early 1960s in northern Sudan, we present the results of the 2019 and 2022 fieldwork of the DIASPORA project (Early Human migrations and the Nile Valley: the Kerma region during the MSA). This poster focuses on site location of the sites discovered in the eastern hinterland of the Kerma region near the Third Nile Cataract in northern Sudan. Archaeological data indicate that most sites are dated to the Middle Stone Age, including well-stratified rock shelters and quarry sites, as well as rare rock art locations and scattered cemeteries from more recent chronologies. Preliminary lithic finds reflect the presence of core reduction Nubian technology and typical Levallois. This study suggests greater techno-typological and raw material exploitation diversity during the MSA in the study area. This will contribute to the identiification and possible tracing of the pathways of the spread of AMH in the Nile valley.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37825.0