Based on previous work in the Sahara Desert of Southern Egypt, Dr. Fred Wendorf and his colleagues have discovered cultural materials of surprisingly early date. Archaeological excavations at the sites of Gebel Nabta and Bir Kiseiba yielded rare bones of domestic cattle and occasional potsherds dating to about 9,500 years in age. Sites dating to ca. 8,100 years ago have yielded grains of domestic barley, and domestic sheep or goat were recovered from contexts earlier than 7,000 years ago. Unfortunately, these finds were made before techniques had been developed for the radiocarbon dating of very small samples, and because it was not possible to date them directly, doubt has been case on these ages. Therefore, Dr. Wendorf and his colleagues will return to the Gebel Nabta region for one season of fieldwork and conduct a carefully controlled excavation to recover additional materials. Through many years of research in the Sahara, Dr. Wendorf and his colleagues have challenged traditional archaeological interpretations of cultural development. Intensive research in Asia had produced evidence that argued that many hallmarks of the Neolithic revolution - the shift from hunting and gathering to reliance on domesticated plants and animals and the use of pottery - first occurred in the Near East. From this perspective Northern Africa was a backwater and the Neolithic, when it appeared, was introduced from the outside. Dr. Wendorf's work suggests that the story is much more complex and that some elements, such as cattle, first appear and were probably domesticated in this region. What matters most is not the history - what first appeared where - but the processes which underlie the events. Possibly the single most important transition in human prehistory is the shift from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plant and animal species. Archaeologists cannot agree on what caused this change to take place. Some have argued that increased population is the cause, while others contended that climatic changes which forced human and non-human populations to interact in new ways are responsible. Because of the excellent environmental data collected over decades by Dr. Wendorf and his team, it may be possible to arrive at a definitive answer, in this region at least. This research is important because it increases our understanding of the processes which underlie the development of complex societies such as our own.
