Khor Shambat, Early Khartoum, Neolithic, cemetery, graves, settlement, pottery, lithic inventory, archaeozoology

Abstract

The locality of Khor Shambat in the Omdurman district of Khartoum was investigated in 2012. The site lies between two gorges draining water to the Nile Valley from the west. Testing established the site stratigraphy, dating the cultural level to the early Neolithic. The source material from this cultural level included vessel-type ceramics, microlithic stone artifacts, macrolithic stone tools and faunal remains. A cemetery containing 13 graves was investigated, the alignment of the burial pits and position of the interments leading to the conclusion that it started as a Neolithic burial ground and continued as a cemetery probably in Meroitic and post-Meroitic times.The archaeological, anthropological and archaeozoological data contributed new information onsettlement on this site and in the broader overview, in central Sudan.

Keywords

• Khor Shambat
• Early Khartoum
• Neolithic
• cemetery
• graves
• settlement