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New Light on Early Food-Production in the Central Sudan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Lech Krzyzaniak
Lech Krzyzaniak
Affiliation:
Archaeological Museum, Poznan
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Extract

The excavations in the Central Sudanese Neolithic settlement at Kadero resulted in the discovery of a large amount of skeletal remains of domestic animals: cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. Cattle pastoralism was of great economic importance for the Kadero population and it was supplemented by the herding of sheep and goats; the presence of dogs is closely associated with this pastoralism. Preliminary examination of plant impressions on potsherds reveals the presence almost exclusively of sorghum and two kinds of millet, which were most probably cultivated. This may explain the large number of grindstones found in the Kadero settlement. The pastoralism and possible cultivation at Kadero point to a much more developed food-producing economy practised by the Central Sudanese Neolithic population, compared to that of the Esh Shaheinab settlement. Food-production at Kadero was supplemented by food-gathering activities, among which the collecting of molluscs predominated, with hunting and fishing playing a less significant role.

The data yielded by the burial ground at Kadero, where the heavily prognathous inhabitants of the local settlement were buried, seem to indicate that the Neolithic Kadero population was an autochthonous one on the Upper (main) Nile. It is assumed that the domestic animals and, perhaps, also the cultivated cereals of the Neolithic Kaderans, as well as of other Central Sudanese populations, were adopted by the local food-gathering human groups following contact with other and alien peoples.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 1978 , pp. 159 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

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6 The excavations at Kadero are being carried out by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, Warsaw University, in Cairo, and are sponsored by the Archaeological Museum in Poznań, Poland. Five field seasons have been undertaken since 1972. During the fourth season, Dr Randi Haaland of the University of Bergen, Norway, joined the expedition; the writer was the field-director throughout the seasons. As regards the bibliography in English, cf. Krzyzaniak, L., ‘Kadero (first season, 1972)’, Etudes et travaux (Warsaw), viii (1975), 361–6Google Scholar; ‘Kadero (second, third season 1973–1973/74)’, Etudes et travaux, ix (1976), 283–7Google Scholar; cf. also reports by the writer in Nyame Akuma. A newsletter of African archaeology (Calgary), no. 5 (1974), 30–2Google Scholar; no. 7 (1975), 45–6; and no. 9 (1976), 41.

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14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

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