Disclosing Archaeological Complexity of the Khartoum Mesolithic: New Data at the Site and Regional Level

Reinterpreting chronology and society at the mortuary complex of Jebel Moya (Sudan)

“…It would enable different scholars to repeat investigations without significant variations and would assist in establishing local and regional chronological sequences through the reconstruction of the internal evolution of decorative patterns. It has since become the dominant classificatory system in use in Saharan and Sudanese pottery studies (Caneva and Marks 1990;Gatto 2011aGatto , 2011bJesse 2002Jesse , 2010Salvatori 2012). Type Variety has only employed twice since, at Shaqadud (Marks et al 1985) and with the Butana Group (Winchell 2013 Caneva (1987: 233-4) places primary emphasis upon the technique of how decor was created (e.g.…”

Discriminating pottery production by image analysis: a case study of Mesolithic and Neolithic pottery from Al Khiday (Khartoum, Sudan)

“…The pottery characterised by this type of temper (alkali feldspar) pertains almost exclusively to the classes of incised wavy line and rocker stamp dotted zigzag packed (Salvatori, 2012), not only at Al Khiday but in all the Mesolithic sites in central Sudan. Alkali concentrations, due to the presence of granite fragments, has been detected in the chemical analysis of the "early Khartoum" (Arkell, 1949) pottery from Saggai and related sites (Francaviglia and Palmieri, 1983).…”

“…Many Neolithic potsherds were also selected according to their decorative motifs and surface treatment (burnishing, linear horizontal incisions, rocker stamp dotted zigzag, rocker stamp evenly spaced dots, rocker stamp unevenly spaced dots, horizontal dotted lines with alternately pivoting stamp technique, semi-circular concentric dotted lines, scraping, incised fish scale, black rimmed). The distribution of decorative motifs in the stratigraphic sequence shows that certain types (lunula-shaped and deep drops) only occur in the Early Mesolithic, and that the same motifs underwent progressive renovation and, in some cases (e.g., incised wavy lines), gradual but incomplete substitution by other motifs (rocker stamp dotted and packed zigzag), revealing well-defined stylistic and cultural transformations of pottery production over time (Salvatori, 2012) (Fig. 3).…”

http://www.iansa.eu/papers/IANSA-2015-02-sukova-3D.pdf

“…300 BC-350 AD), postMeroitic (350-550 AD), Christian (550-1500 AD), and later periods (after 1500 AD). The establishment of cemeteries at these prehistoric mounds, often consisting of tumuli heaped from surface deposits, significantly devastated the earlier archaeological situations and distorted the original archaeological image of these prehistoric settlements (e.g., Arkell 1949, 119-127;1953, 91-96;Caneva 1983a;Caneva et al 1993;Fernández et al 2003, 283-284;Usai, Salvatori 2006;Salvatori 2012). …”

“…A new discussion on this subject has recently been opened with the presentation of the findings made in the framework of the Es Salha Project on the lower White Nile where original, undisturbed Mesolithic stratigraphies and varied in situ features have been detected to a much larger extent than at other sites (e.g., Usai, Salvatori 2006;Salvatori 2012;Salvatori et al 2014;Usai 2014). Nevertheless, this can be attributed …”