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Post by truthcentric on Apr 5, 2010 18:39:14 GMT -5
Cross-posted from the old Egyptsearch:I was just browsing a website about prehistoric Egypt when I came upon the following series of maps showing major archaeological sites dated to prehistoric times in Egypt. I find these interesting because they show the movement of peoples in Egypt over millennia. I thought I'd share the maps with the Egyptsearch community here. 100,000 BC 40,000 BC 19,000-10,000 BC 8,000-7,000 BC 6,500-5,000 BC 5,000-3,000 BC Red dots are Paleolithic sites, while green dots are Neolithic sites.
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Post by anansi on Apr 5, 2010 20:31:50 GMT -5
Well will you look at that,it seems most of the action were in the south no matter how far back one goes.
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Post by truthcentric on Apr 5, 2010 20:39:48 GMT -5
Well will you look at that,it seems most of the action were in the south no matter how far back one goes. That's almost an understatement. It isn't until well into the Holocene that we see any sign of human habitation in Egypt's northern half. It also appears to be the south where significant technological advances were made; note that it's in the south, circa 6,500-5,000 BC, where we find the first sites with a Neolithic level of technology. |
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Post by anansi on Apr 5, 2010 21:55:09 GMT -5
Well will you look at that,it seems most of the action were in the south no matter how far back one goes. That's almost an understatement. It isn't until well into the Holocene that we see any sign of human habitation in Egypt's northern half. It also appears to be the south where significant technological advances were made; note that it's in the south, circa 6,500-5,000 BC, where we find the first sites with a Neolithic level of technology. Yes and this includes the very important site of Nabta platya  "The symbolic richness and spatial awareness seen in the Nabta complex of the Late Neolithic age may have developed from adaptation by nomadic peoples to the stress of survival in the desert. The ceremonial complex could not be more recent than the onset of hyperaridity in the region around 4800 years ago, suggesting that the astronomy and ceremonialism of Nabta occurred before most of the megalithic features of Europe, Great Britain, and Brittany were established. Within some 500 years after the exodus from Nabta, the step pyramid at Saqqara was constructed, indicating that there was a pre-existing cultural base, which may have originated in the desert of Upper Egypt. An exodus from the Nubian desert at 5000 years ago could have precipitated the development of social differentiation in predynastic cultures through the arrival in the Nile valley of nomadic groups who were better organized and possessed a more complex cosmology." Reference: Oldest Astronomical Megalith Alignment Discovered In Egypt By Science Team Malville, Wendorf, Mazar & Schild, Megaliths and Neolithic Astronomy in Southern Egypt, Nature, pp. 392, 488-491 (April 2, 1998) The site was first discovered in 1974 by a group of scientists headed by Fred Wendorf, an Anthropology Professor from Southern Methodist University in Texas. The team had stopped for a break from their uncomfortable drive from the Libyan border to the Nile Valley when, as Wendorf stated, "we were standing there minding our own business, when we noticed potsherds and other artifacts." Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, Wendorf returned to Nabta several times. He determined that humans had occupied the Nabta area off and on for thousands of years, dating from as early as 11,000 years ago up until about 4800 years ago. Although the area was occupied for more then 5000 years, the majority of the stone structures and other artifacts originated between 7000 and 6500 years ago. It was considered by most to be the height of human occupation at Nabta. wysinger.homestead.com/nabtaplaya.html |
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