National Science Foundation funds will support three seasons of archaeological fieldwork by Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand in northern Sudan. Recovery of ancient plant remains from several sites will show how and why peoples of the northern Sudanese Nile undertook farming 6000-3000 years ago.
The prehistoric transition from hunting/gathering to farming occurred at different times in different places around the globe, and is relevant to the structure and sustainability of today's farming systems. The first farmers and herders undertook a fundamental change in food-getting strategy that was intimately linked to their technology, social structure, and environment. Early African food production has been little studied, but differed from much of the world in that animals, rather than plants, were the first domesticates. In northern Sudan, plant food production began after herding was practiced, and may have involved local (sorghum, watermelon) and/or Near Eastern (wheat, legumes) crops.
Because few projects in northern Sudan have attempted to recover ancient plant remains, we know little of how local and non-local crops were incorporated into the diet. How did people use wild plants in northern Sudan before the farming of Near Eastern or local crops? Were local plants domesticated first, or cultivated only after Near Eastern crops were introduced? Was early farming in northern Sudan due to the influence of state-level societies (Egypt, Kerma), or an autonomous local development?
Answering these questions will entail excavation of several sites 6000-3000 years ago at Sai Island in the far north of Sudan, and the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, halfway between Khartoum and Sai. These include an open-air settlement with hearths (Sai), a granary complex with adjacent settlement (Sai), and a large Classic Kerma settlement away from the river (Fourth Cataract). Dr. Hildebrand will collaborate with scholars from Sudan, Italy, France, and Poland, who have longstanding amicable relations with local inhabitants. All project sites lie in secure areas.
Excavating multiple sites will yield a geographically and temporally broad picture of subsistence change. New recovery methods specifically designed for local sediments may prove applicable all along the Nile. Comparing different contexts will show how rulers and subjects of local (Kerma) and non-local (Egypt) complex societies incorporated plants into both administrative plans and daily lives.
Completion of the Hamdab High Dam near the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in 2008 will flood sites up to 150 km upstream. The Sudanese National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums has issued an urgent call for archaeological research prior to the filling of the dam. Research will be enriched by ethnobotanical collaboration with Nubian farmers whose language and culture has been marginalized by Sudan's ruling elite. The project will train Sudanese archaeology students in ethnobotany and archaeobotany, and incorporate plant subsistence information into exhibits in the Sudan National Museum. These activities will improve both public awareness and research capacity concerning the long interplay between humans, plants, and the environment, a topic that is strongly relevant to current debates about food production strategies, GMO technologies, and agrarian reform.
