Unearthing a Middle Nile crossroads – exploring the prehistory of the Letti Basin (Sudan)

Abstract

New research on early Holocene settlement and burial practices in the Southern Dongola Reach focused on the key areas of the Letti region, Argi (adjacent to Affad) and the outlets of Wadi el-Melik and Wadi Howar. The project follows up on ten years of investigations by the PalaeoAffad Project in the Affad region (Northern Province, Sudan). Unique data collected in the course of the first season of fieldwork reopens the debate on cattle domestication and early pottery production in the region (previously classified as the Tergis Group). The new finds, concerning Neolithic and Kerma settlement in the region, enables changes in the currently accepted absolute chronology of prehistoric settlement in the area.

Keywords

• survey
• Letti
• early Holocene
• Paleolithic
• Neolithic
• Kerma