Added March 1998. Updated November 26, 2000.
By
Fred Wendorf
Southern Methodist University
3225 Daniel Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75275-0274
USA
Tel. 214 768-2924, Tel. 214 768-1551, fwendorf@mail.smu.edu, Secretary: mskwirz@post.cis.smu.edu
And
Romuald Schild
Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii
Polskiej Aakademii Nauk
Al. Solidarnoci 105
00-140 Warszawa
Poland
Tel. +48-2-620-28-81, rschild@iaepan.edu.pl
Located 100 km west of Abu Simbel, in southernmost Egypt, Nabta Playa
is a large, internally drained basin, which during the early Holocene ( ca. 11,000
- 5500 calibrated radiocarbon years ago) was a large and important ceremonial
center for prehistoric people. It was intermittently and seasonally filled with
water, which encouraged people to come there, and today it contains dozens, and
perhaps hundreds, of archaeological sites. People came from many regions to
Nabta Playa to record astronomical events, erect alignments of megaliths, and
build impressive stone structures.
From around 65,000 years ago until about 12,000 years ago the Western Desert
was hyper-arid, at least as dry as today and perhaps drier. This began to
change after 12,000 years ago when the summer rains of tropical Africa began to
move northward, bringing sufficient moisture for a wide variety of sahelian
grasses, trees and bushes to grow, and for a few small animals to exist, mostly
hares and small gazelle, but also including a few small carnivores. Even with
the rains it was still very dry; the annual rainfall was no more than 100 - 150
mm per year, and it was unpredictable and punctuated with numerous droughts,
some of which caused the desert to be abandoned for lengthy periods. The
earliest (11,000 - 9300 years ago, calibrated) settlements at Nabta were
composed of small seasonal camps of cattle-herding and ceramic-using people.
These early cattle are regarded as domestic (Wendorf and Schild 1994), and it
may have been in the Western Desert that the African pattern of cattle herding
developed, wherein cattle serve as a "walking larder" and provide
milk and blood, rather than meat (except for ceremonial occasions) and are the
economic basis for power and prestige. Pottery is very rare in these sites, but
distinctive. It is decorated over the entire exterior with complex patterns of
impressions applied with a comb in a rocking motion. The source of this pottery
has not been identified, but it is among the oldest known in Africa, and older
than pottery in Southwest Asia. These early people probably came into the
desert after the summer rains from either farther south or the adjacent Nile
Valley, in either case searching for pasture for their cattle. Each fall, when
the surface water in the playas dried up and there was no water for them or
their cattle, they had to return to the Nile, or perhaps to the better watered
areas to the south.
By 9000 years ago (8000 bp, uncalibrated), the settlements were much
larger, and their inhabitants were able to live in the desert year-round,
digging large, deep wells and living in organized villages consisting of small
huts arranged in straight lines. The many plant remains in these sites tell us
they were collecting large numbers of edible wild plants, including sorghum,
millets, legumes, tubers, and fruits. Around 8800 years ago (7800 bp,
uncalibrated), they began to make pottery locally, possibly the earliest
pottery in Egypt. A few hundred years later, around 8100 years ago (7100 bp,
uncalibrated), sheep and goats occur for the first time at Nabta, almost
certainly introduced from Southwest Asia, where domestic caprovids had been
known for over 2000 years. There must have been many changes in the settlement
system to accommodate these new animals; the settlements are very large and
contain numerous hearths, but there is no evidence of huts or houses.
A major change occurred in the character of the Neolithic society at
Nabta occurred around 7500 years ago, following a major drought which drove the
previous groups from the desert. The groups who returned to the desert now
clearly had a complex social system that expressed a degree of organization and
control not previously seen in Egypt. They sacrificed young cows and buried
them in clay-lined and roofed chambers covered by rough stone tumuli, they
erected alignments of large, unshaped stones, they built Egypt's earliest
astronomical measuring device (a "calendar circle" which appears to
have been used to mark the summer solstice), and they constructed more than 30
complex structures having both surface and subterranean features. A shaped
stone from one of these complexes may be the oldest known sculpture in Egypt.
These structures are important because they indicate the way the people
were able to organize work, celebrate their culture, and perhaps express their
religious beliefs, and furthermore, they tell us that the Saharan people may
have been more highly organized than their contemporaries in the Nile Valley.
A regional ceremonial center is a place where related but widely
separated groups gather periodically to conduct ceremonies and to reaffirm
their social and political solidarity. Even today in many parts of Africa these
centers serve as foci of religious, political and social functions for the
entire group. Nabta seems to have been such a center for pastoralists living in
the southwestern portion of the Egyptian Western Desert. It probably began to
function as a regional ceremonial center during the Middle Neolithic (8100-7600
years ago), when groups residing in other nearby basins gathered there for
ceremonial and other purposes during the summer wet season when the playa was
at its largest extent. This gathering occurred on a dune along the northwestern
shore of the playa where there are hundreds of hearths and more than two meters
of accumulated cultural debris.
Among the more interesting elements in the cultural debris at this
gathering site were numerous bones of cattle. While present in most sites,
bones of cattle are elsewhere never very numerous, good evidence that they were
kept primarily for their milk and blood, rather than for meat. This pattern
resembles the role of cattle among modern African pastoralists, where cattle
represent wealth and political power and are rarely killed except on important
ceremonial or social occasions, such as the death of a leader or a marriage.
This so-called "African Cattle Complex" may have begun in the Western
Desert of Egypt.
The role of Nabta as a regional ceremonial center is also indicated by
a north-south alignment of nine large (average, 3 x 2 x 0.5 m) quartzitic
sandstone slabs set upright about 100 m apart, and partially imbedded in playa
sediments near the gathering area along the northwest margin of the seasonal
lake. The blocks were unshaped, and many of them are now broken; however, they
can be refitted. Outcrops of similar sandstone occur in the vicinity, some less
than a kilometer from the alignment. The alignment cannot be dated precisely,
but it is probably Late Neolithic in age, and if so it was erected between 7500
and 5500 years ago. It is similar to the large stone alignments found in
Western Europe, where they are dated to the late Neolithic and Early Bronze
Age, about the same age as the Nabta alignment. There are other alignments
known farther south in both East and West Africa, but they are thought to date
much later, to the Iron Age.
About 300 m beyond the north end of the Nabta alignment is a
"calendar circle" consisting of a series of small sandstone slabs
arranged in a circle about 4 m in diameter. Among the ring of stones are four
pairs of larger stones, each pair set close together and separated by a narrow
space, or gate. The gates on two of these pairs align generally north-south;
the gates on the other two pairs form a line at 700 east of north,
which aligns with the calculated position of sunrise at the summer solstice
6000 years ago. In the center of the circle are six upright slabs arranged in
two lines , whose astronomical function, if any, is not evident. Charcoal from
one of the numerous hearths around the "calendar" dated around 6800
years ago (6000 bp +- 60 years, CAMS - 17287).
Another 300 meters farther north of the calendar circle is a
stone-covered tumulus containing the remains of a complete articulated young
adult cow buried in a chamber that was dug into the floor of the wadi,
surrounded by a clay collar, and roofed with limbs of tamarisk. The chamber was
then covered with broken rocks forming a mound 8 meters in diameter and a meter
high. A piece of wood from the roof yielded a calibrated radiocarbon date
between 7400 and 7300 years ago (6470 bp +- 270 years, CAMS - 17289). In the
same area seven other similar stone tumuli containing the remains of cattle
were excavated, but none of them had subsurface chambers; instead, the bones of
the cattle, a few of which were still articulated, were simply placed among the
stones.
Among the most interesting features at Nabta is the group of thirty
"complex structures" located in an area about 500 meters long and 200
meters wide, on a high remnant of playa clays and silts about a kilometer south
of the large settlement which yielded so many bones of cattle. Each of these
structures consists of a group of large, elongated, roughly shaped or unshaped
sandstone blocks set upright to frame an oval area about five meters in length
and four meters in width, oriented slightly west of north. In the center of
this oval there is one, sometimes two, very large flat slabs laid horizontally.
Two of these structures have been excavated, a third has been tested, and
drill-holes have been dug at two others. All are basically similar, although
they differ in some details. All of the excavated and tested structures were
built over mushroom-shaped tablerocks, the tops of which were deeply buried
(from two to three and a half meters below the surface) in heavy playa clays
and silts. These tablerocks are quartzitic lenses in the underlying bedrock
which were shaped by erosion of the softer surrounding sediments before the
overlying playa sediments were deposited. How the Nabta people managed to find
these tablerocks deeply buried below the surface is not clear, but it may have
been mere chance and occurred during the excavation of a water well. Except for
the structures, however, there is no other archaeological material in this
area, which is highly unusual for the Nabta Basin, where archaeological sites
of various ages occur almost everywhere.
The excavation of the largest of these complex structures disclosed
that before the upright stones were erected, a large pit about six meters in
diameter and four meters deep had been dug. The table rock at the base of the
pit was shaped by removing the irregular edges, leaving a convex perimeter on
three sides. The fourth side, at the north end, was worked by flaking to form a
straight edge. The top of the table rock was also smoothed. The pit was then
partially refilled with playa clay to a level about a half meter above the top
of the table rock, and then an enormous (ca. 2.5 tons), carefully shaped stone
was brought in and held in position by several small slabs. The base of the
shaped stone was 2.5 meters below the surface. What this "sculpture"
represents is not clear; it is shaped on only two sides, and its sculptors used
the natural bedding in the rock to achieve a wide, curved surface which they
smoothed. In some views the stone vaguely resembles a large animal. After the
shaped stone was placed in position, the pit was backfilled completely, and the
surface architecture of large upright stones and two large horizontal central
stones was erected directly over the tablerock.
The other excavated structure also had been erected over a tablerock,
and it too had a large stone over the tablerock, but work on that stone was
limited to a few flakes removed from one end. The third complex structure was
only tested. It was one of eight that were tightly clustered and interlocked
together. The units were smaller, constructed of smaller stones, but had the
same configuration with a large horizontal central stone. The test excavations
recovered charcoal from a shelf on the edge of the pit under the structure, and
this charcoal yielded a calibrated radiocarbon age between 5600 and 5400 years
ago (4800 +- 80 years bp; DRI 3358). This is the only date available for these
structures, and it is about 1500 years later than we had estimated from the
stratigraphic evidence. This cluster differs from the other complex structures,
and it may relate to a late phase in this phenomena; however, there is no other
reason to reject the date.
Drilling at two other structures showed that they had also been erected
over buried tablerocks. Although only two of these features were excavated
completely, and a third only tested, it is highly likely that most of the
others were also built over deeply buried tablerocks that may or may not have
been modified, and may also have large worked stones in the fill above the
tablerock. These complex structures appear to be unique to Nabta; they are not
known to occur in the Nile Valley, or elsewhere in the Western Desert. It
should be noted, however, that they are difficult to recognize (they were
regarded a bedrock outcrops for many years), and they may be more widespread in
the Eastern Sahara than now believed.
We had expected to find burials of elite individuals below the central
stones, but no traces of human remains were seen, although the excavations were
carried beyond the limits of the original pits dug to expose the tablerock. The
function of the complex structures remains unknown, however, it may be useful
to consider the implications of their presence at Nabta.
The construction of the megaliths and the large complex structures at
Nabta required significant effort, indicating the presence of a religious or
political authority with control over human resources for an extended period of
time. They, together with the calendar circle and cattle burials, represent an
elaborate and previously unsuspected ceremonialism in the Neolithic of the
Eastern Sahara. Although the evidence remains insecure and thus it cannot be
demonstrated that these Saharan cattle pastoralists had a ranked society, this
is, nevertheless, a strong possibility.
The discoveries at Nabta Playa suggest the possibility of a previously
unrecognized relationship between the Neolithic people living along the Nile
and pastoralists in the adjacent Sahara which may have contributed to the rise
of social complexity in ancient Egypt. This complexity, as expressed by
different levels of authority within the society, forms the basis for the
structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
It was this authority at Nabta which made possible the planned arrangement of
their villages, the excavation of large, deep wells, and the construction of
complex stone structures made of large, shaped and unshaped stones. There are
other Nabta features which are shared by the two areas, but which appear
suddenly and without evident local antecedents in the late Predynastic and
early Old Kingdom in the Nile Valley. These include the role of cattle to
express differences of wealth, power and authority, the emphasis on cattle in
religious beliefs, and the use of astronomical knowledge and devices to predict
solar events. Many of these features have a prior and long history of
development at Nabta.
The geographic position of the Nabta center is also of interest. Nabta
may have been a contact point between the early Neolithic groups along the Nile
who had an agricultural economy and the cattle pastoralists in the Eastern
Sahara. The functional separation of these two different economies may have
played a significant role in the emergence of complexity among both groups. The
evidence for Nilotic influence on pastoralists is not extensive and is
presently limited to ceramic technology, domestic caprovids, and the occasional
trade of shells of Nile species and rare stones from the Nile gravel. However,
there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in the Predynastic and
Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan cattle pastoralists.
The likely possibility of a symbiotic relationship between the cattle
pastoralists in the Sahara and the Neolithic groups in the Nile Valley points
to a potentially important role for the Nabta regional ceremonial center. Among
East African cattle pastoralists regional ceremonial centers, because of their
integrative role, are frequently placed near boundaries between different
segments of a tribe, or between different tribal groups. The Nabta center could
well have served that purpose, it could have been located between several
groups of pastoralists, and between pastoralists and the Neolithic farmers
along the Nile, 100 km away.
It has long been assumed that Egypt borrowed the concepts of complexity
from Mesopotamia; however, it is now generally recognized that a process like
social complexity cannot be diffused from one area to another, but instead
develops from local causes. It might occur, for example, when there are two
radically different economic systems in close physical proximity, as is found
where agriculturists have close relationships with pastoralists. Pastoralists
usually live in tense harmony with their village neighbors, but from time to
time they will take advantage of a weakness and take control. It is in this
setting that the socially complex Late Neolithic cattle pastoralists and their
regional ceremonial center at Nabta is of particular importance.
There are many features in the religious beliefs and social systems of
early Egyptians which are not found in Mesopotamia. Among the ancient
Egyptians, cattle were the central focus of the belief system. They were
deified and regarded as earthly representatives of the gods. A cow was also
seen as the mother of the sun, who is sometimes referred to as the "Bull
of Heaven." The Egyptian pharaoh was regarded as the embodiment of two
gods, Horus, for Upper Egypt and Seth, for Lower Egypt, but he was primarily
Horus, son of Hathor, who was a cow. Horus is also sometimes depicted as a
strong bull, and images of cattle are prominent in Predynastic and Old Kingdom
art; in some instances images of bulls occur with depiction's of stars. Another
important Old Kingdom concept was Min, the god of rain, who is associated with
a white bull, and to whom the annual harvest festival was dedicated.
It is significant that the emphasis on cattle in the belief system of
the Old Kingdom was not reflected in the economy. While cattle were known and
were the major measure of wealth, the economy was based primarily on
agriculture and small livestock - sheep and goats. Also, cattle were not
important among the preceding Neolithic in the Nile Valley, which suggests that
the Old Kingdom belief system was imposed from the outside, perhaps in the
traditional fashion, a conquest by pastoralists who periodically come in from
their "lands of insolence" to conquer their farming neighbors (Coon
1958:295-323; Khazanov 1994). It is tempting to suggest that the impressive
cattle burials at the A-Group site of Qustul (Williams 1986), in Egypt south of
Abu Simbel, may relate to just such an event. At the moment these interesting
possibilities must be regarded as speculative; the data on the structure of the
Saharan pastoralist societies remains inadequate, and the character of the
early Neolithic in the Nile Valley in Nubia and Upper Egypt is poorly
understood, but a study of the interaction between the Sahara and the Nile may
throw significant light on the processes that led to the rise of Egyptian
Civilization.
Malville, Wendorf, Mazar, and Schild
1998
NATURE
292:488-491 2 April 1998.
Wendorf and Schild
1998 "Nabta Playa and its role in Northeastern African Prehistory" JOUR. OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 17:97-123.
Please send comments or questions to Max Baldia.
