Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T01:51:20.013Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Reassessment of the Origins of the Predynastic in Upper Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

D. Tangri
D. Tangri*
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, A14, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent arguments about the origins of the Predynastic in Upper Egypt have posited connections between the lithic industries of that region and those of the Western Desert. It has been further claimed that a mid-Holocene arid period may have led the inhabitants of the desert regions to migrate to the Nile Valley. This essay argues that the evidence of stone tools, as well as ceramic evidence from Dakhla Oasis, fail to support the ‘desert migration’ model, at least as it applies to Dakhla Oasis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , 1992 , pp. 111 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Addison, F. 1949. Jebel Moya. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arkell, A. J. 1949. Early Khartoum. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arkell, A. J. 1953a. The Sudan origin of Predynastic ‘Black Incised’ pottery. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 39, 76–79.Google Scholar
Arkell, A. J. 1953b. Shaheinab. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arkell, A. J. 1957. Khartoum's part in the development of the Neolithic. Kush 5, 8–12.Google Scholar
Arkell, A.J. & Ucko, P.J. 1965. Review of Predynastic development in the Nile Valley. Current Anthropology 6, 145–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagnold, R. A. 1931. Journeys in the Libyan Desert 1929 and 1930. Geographical Journal 77, 13–39.Google Scholar
Bagnold, R. A. 1933. A further journey through the Libyan Desert. Geographical Journal 82 (1), 211–25, 82 (2), 103–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bagnold, R.A., Myers, O.H., Peel, R.F. & Winkler, H.A. 1939. An expedition to the Gilf Kebir and ‘Uweinat, 1938. Geographical Journal 93 (4), 281–313.Google Scholar
Banks, K. M. 1980. Ceramics of the Western Desert. In Wendorf, F. & Schild, R., Prehistory of the Eastern Sahara, 304–14. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Banks, K. M. 1984a. Climates, Cultures and Cattle. Dallas: Southern Methodist University, Department of Anthropology: Institute for the Study of Earth and Man.Google Scholar
Banks, K. M. 1984b. Early ceramic-bearing occupations in the Egyptian Western Desert. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 149–61. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Barich, B. A. & Hassan, F. A. 1987. The Farafra Oasis Archaeological Project. Nyame Akuma 29, 16–21.Google Scholar
Bovier-Lapierre, P. 1928. Les explorations de S.A.S. le Prince Kemal el Din Hussein. Contribution à la Préhistoire du desert Libyque. Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte 10, 33–44.Google Scholar
Brunton, G. 1937. Mostagedda and the Tasian Culture. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Brunton, G. 1948. Matmar. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Brunton, G. & Caton-Thompson, G. 1928. The Badarian Civilisation. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Caporiacco, L. 1933. Le pitture preistoriche de Ain Doua (Auenat). Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia 63, 275–84.Google Scholar
Caton-Thompson, G. 1952. Kharga Oasis in Prehistory. London: The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.Google Scholar
Childe, V. G. 1952. New Light on the Most Ancient East. London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D., Williams, M.A.J. & Smith, A.B. 1973. The geomorphology and archaeology of Adrar Bous, central Sahara: a preliminary report. Quaternaria 17, 245–98.Google Scholar
Clark, J.D., Phillips, J.L. & Staley, P. S. 1974. Interpretations of prehistoric technology from ancient Egyptian and other sources. Part 1: ancient Egyptian bows and arrows and their relevance for African prehistory. Paléorient 2 (2), 323–88.Google Scholar
Close, A. E. 1990. Living on the edge: Neolithic herders in the eastern Sahara. Antiquity 64, 79–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, S. 1963. The Prehistory of East Africa. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.Google Scholar
De Bissing, F. 1898. Les origines de l'Égypte. L'Anthropologie 9, 241–58, 408–17.Google Scholar
De Morgan, J. J. M., Weidmann, M. M., Jequier, G. & Dr.Fouquet, , 1896. Recherches sur les Origines de l'Égypte Paris: E. Leroux.Google Scholar
Dunham, D. 1950. The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, I: el Kurru. Cambridge (Mass.): Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Google Scholar
Edwards, W.I. & Hope, C. A. 1987. The Neolithic ceramics from the Dakhleh Oasis: a brief note. In Edwards, W. I., Hope, C. A. & Segnit, E. E. (eds), Ceramics from the Dakhleh Oasis: Preliminary Studies, 1–11. Melbourne: Victoria College Archaeology Research Unit.Google Scholar
Edwards, W. I. & Hope, C. A. 1989. A note on the Neolithic ceramics from the Dakhlah Oasis (Egypt). In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 233–44. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Eiwanger, J. 1984. Merimde-Benisalme I. Die Funde der Urschicht. Mainz: Verlag Phillip von Zabern.Google Scholar
Epstein, H. 1971. The Origin of the Domestic Animals of Africa. New York: Africana Publications.Google Scholar
Fischer, A. 1989. Hunting with flint-tipped arrows: results and experiences from practical experiments. In Bonsall, C. (ed.), The Mesolithic in Europe, 29–39. Edinburgh: John Donald.Google Scholar
Frankfort, H. 1951. The Birth of Civilization in the Near East. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Gautier, A. 1987. Prehistoric men and cattle in North Africa: a dearth of data and a surfeit of models. In Close, A. (ed.), Prehistory of Arid North Africa, 163–87. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Gazit, D. & Mazel, I. 1981. A collection of flint tools from the Fayum. Tel Aviv 8, 173–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginter, B. & Kozlowski, J. K. 1984. The Tarifian and the origin of the Nagadian. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 247–60. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Ginter, B. & Kozlowski, J. K. 1986. Kulturelle und pälaoklimatische Sequenz in der Fayum-Depression. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 42, 9–23.Google Scholar
Ginter, B., Kozlowski, J. K., Pawlikowski, M. & Sliwa, J. 1982. El Tarif und Qasr es-Sagha. Forschungen zur Siedlungsgeschichte des Neolithikums, der Frühdynastischen Epoche und des Mittleren Reiches. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 38, 97–129.Google Scholar
Ginter, B., Kozlowski, J. K. & Pawlikowski, M. 1985. Field report for the survey conducted in Upper Egypt in 1983. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 41, 15–42.Google Scholar
Ginter, B., Kozlowski, J. K. & Pawlikowski, M. 1987. Investigations into sites MA 6/83 and MA 21/83 in the region of Qurna-Armant in Upper Egypt. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 43, 45–66.Google Scholar
Ginter, B., Kozlowski, J. K, Litynska, M. & Pawlikowski, M. 1988. Field report from the excavation of the sites MA 21/83 and MA 21a/83 near Armant in Upper Egypt in 1986. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 44, 95–104.Google Scholar
Gopher, A. 1989. The Flint Assemblages of Munhata (Israel). Final Report. Paris: Association Paléorient.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1984. Toward a model of agricultural developments in Predynastic Egypt. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 221–24. Poznan Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1986. Desert environment and origins of agriculture in Egypt. Norwegian Archaeological Review 19, 63–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassan, F. A. 1988. The Predynastic of Egypt. Journal of World Prehistory 2, 135–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassanein Bey, A. M. 1925. The Lost Oases. London: Thornton Butterworth.Google Scholar
Hayes, W. C. 1965. Most Ancient Egypt. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Hays, T. R. 1984. Predynastic development in Upper Egypt. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 211–19. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. A. 1986. A preliminary report on 1984 excavations at Hierakonpolis. Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt 132, 3–9.Google Scholar
Holmes, D.L. 1988. The Predynastic lithic industries of Badari, Middle Egypt: new perspectives and inter-regional relations. World Archaeology 20, 70–86.Google Scholar
Holmes, D.L. 1989. The Predynastic Lithic Industries of Upper Egypt. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Hope, C. A. 1980. Dakhleh Oasis Project: report on the study of the pottery and kilns. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 10, 283–313.Google Scholar
Hope, C. A. 1981. Dakhleh Oasis Project: report on the study of the pottery and kilns, third season—1980. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 11, 233–41.Google Scholar
Hope, C. A. 1983. Dakhleh Oasis Project: preliminary report on the study of the pottery—fifth season, 1982. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 13, 142–57.Google Scholar
Hope, C. A. in press. Pottery production in the Dakhleh Oasis. In Mills, A.J. (ed.), Dakhleh Oasis Project—Interim Report. Toronto: The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.Google Scholar
Keding, B. 1989. Vom Uferstrand zum Wüstenrand. Archäologie in Deutschland 2, 32–35.Google Scholar
Keita, S. O. Y. 1988. An analysis of crania from Tell Duweir using multiple discriminant functions. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 75, 375–90.Google Scholar
Keita, S. O. Y. 1990. Studies of ancient crania from northern Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 83, 35–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kemal el-Din, H. 1928. L'exploration du desert Libyque. La Géographie 58, 171–83, 321–36.Google Scholar
Klees, F. 1989a. Die grosse Sandsee. Archäologie in Deutschland 2, 15–18.Google Scholar
Klees, F. 1989b. Lobo: a contribution to the prehistory of the Eastern Sand Sea and the Egyptian oases. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 223–31. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Kuper, R. 1981. Untersuchungen zur Besiedlungsgeschichte der östlichen Sahara. Vorbericht iiber die Expedition 1980. Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie 3, 215–75.Google Scholar
Kuper, R. 1988. Neuere Forschungen zur Besiedlungsgeschichte der Ost-Sahara. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 18, 127–42.Google Scholar
Kuper, R. 1989. The eastern Sahara from north to south: data and dates from the B.O.S. Project. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 197–203. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
McBurney, C. B. M. 1960. The Stone Age of Northern Africa. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
McDonald, M.M.A. 1982. Dakhleh Oasis Project: third preliminary report on the lithic industries in the Dakhleh Oasis. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities 12, 115–38.Google Scholar
McDonald, M. M. A. 1992. Origins of the Neolithic in the Nile Valley as seen from the Dakleh Oasis in the Egyptian Western Desert. Sahara 4, 41–52.Google Scholar
McDonald, M. M. A. in press. Neolithic cultural units and adaptations in Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. In Mills, A. J. (ed.), Dakhleh Oasis Project — Interim Reports. Toronto: The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.Google Scholar
McHugh, W. P. 1974. Cattle pastoralism in Africa — a model for interpreting archaeological evidence from the eastern Sahara Desert. Arctic Anthropology 11 (Supplement), 236–44.Google Scholar
McHugh, W. P. 1975. Some archaeological results of the Bagnold-Mond Expedition to the Gilf Kebir and Gebel ‘Uweinat, southern Libyan Desert. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 34, 31–62.Google Scholar
McHugh, W. P. 1982. Archaeological investigations in the Gilf Kebir and the Abu Hussein dunefield. In El-Baz, F. & Maxwell, T. (eds), Desert Landforms of Southwest Egypt, 301–34. Washington: NASA.Google Scholar
McHugh, W. P., Schaber, G. G., Breed, C. S. & McCauley, J. F. 1989. Neolithic adaptations and the Holocene functioning of Tertiary palaeodrainages in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Antiquity 63, 320–36.Google Scholar
Mohammed-Ali, A. 1984. Evidence of early food production in north-east Africa: an alternative model. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 65–72. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Mond, R. & Myer, O. H. 1937. Cemeteries of Armant. London: The Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Murray, G. W. 1939. An Archaic hut in Wadi Umm Sidrah. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 25, 38–39.Google Scholar
Needier, W. 1984. Predynastic and Archaic Egypt in the Brooklyn Museum. Brooklyn: The Museum Press.Google Scholar
Newbold, D. 1928. Rock pictures and archaeology in the Libyan Desert. Antiquity 2, 261–91.Google Scholar
Newbold, D. & Shaw, W. B. K. 1928. An exploration in the South Libyan Desert. Sudan Notes and Records 11, 103–94.Google Scholar
Peel, R. F. 1939. Rock-paintings from the Libyan Desert. Antiquity 13, 389–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petit-Maire, N. & Dutour, O. 1987. Holocene populations of the western and southern Sahara: Mechtoids and paleoclimates. In Close, A. E. (ed.), Prehistory of Arid North Africa, 259–85. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Petrie, W. M. F. 1896. Nagada. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Petrie, W. M. F. 1921. Corpus of Prehistoric Pottery and Palettes. London: Constable & Co. & Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Petrie, W. M. F. 1939. The Making of Egypt. London: The Sheldon Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, S.A. 1987. The potentials of lithic analysis in the Chalcolithic of the northern Negev. In Levy, T. E. (ed.), Shiqmim, I, 295–312. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Shaw, W. B. K. 1934. The Mountain of Uweinat. Antiquity 8, 63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, W. B. K. 1936a. Two burials from the South Libyan Desert. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 22, 47–50.Google Scholar
Shaw, W. B. K. 1936b. Rock paintings in the Libyan Desert. Antiquity 10, 175–78.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. H. & Mandel, R. D. 1986. Prehistoric Occupation of a Marginal Environment: An Archaeological Survey near Kharga Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Smith, A. B. 1986. Cattle domestication in North Africa. African Archaeological Review 4, 197–203.Google Scholar
Smith, A. B. 1989. The Near Eastern connection: early to mid-Holocene relations between North Africa and the Levant. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 69–77. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Stemler, A. & Falk, R. 1980. A scanning electron microscope study of cereal grains from Nabta Playa. In Wendorf, F. & Schild, R. (eds), Prehistory of the Eastern Sahara, 393–99. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tangri, D. 1991a. Dakhla Oasis: the Neolithic pottery. Bulletin de Liaison du Groupe International d'Etude de Céramique Égyptienne 15, 31–36.Google Scholar
Tangri, D. 1991b. Neolithic basket-impressed pottery from Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt. New evidence for regionalism in the eastern Sahara. Sahara 4, 141–43.Google Scholar
Vercoutter, J. 1988. Le Sahara et l'Égypte pharaonique. Sahara 1, 9–19.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, P.M. 1984. Subsistence activities on the late Palaeolithic sites of El Kab (Upper Egypt). In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Origin and Early Development of Food-Producing Cultures in North-Eastern Africa, 137–42. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
Vermeersch, P.M., Paulissen, E. & van Neer, W. 1989. The late Palaeolithic Makhadma sites (Egypt): environment and subsistence. In Krzyzaniak, L. & Kobusiewicz, M. (eds), Late Prehistory of the Nile Basin and the Sahara, 87–114. Poznan: Poznan Archaeological Museum.Google Scholar
von den Driesch, A. 1986. Tierknochenfunde aus Qasr esSagha/Fayum. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 42, 1–8.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F. & Close, A. E. 1984. Report on sites E–79–6 and E–79–7: two Middle Neolithic sites at Gebal el Feel Playa. In Wendorf, F. & Schild, R. (assemblers) & Close, A. (ed.), Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba, 190–216. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F. & Schild, R. 1980. Prehistory of the Eastern Sahara. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wendorf, F. & Schild, R. 1984. Conclusions. In Wendorf, F. & Schild, R. (assemblers) and Close, A. (ed.), Cattle-Keepers of the Eastern Sahara: The Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba, 404–28. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.Google Scholar
Winkler, H. A. 1939. Rock-Drawings of Southern Upper Egypt. London: The Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar