Early Holocene pottery in the Western

Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta

Research
Playa
Maciej Jórdeczka1 , Halina Królik,2 Mirosław Masojć3
& Romuald Schild2
Dated and stratified potsherds excavated at
Nabta Playa belong to the earliest phase of
pottery-making in the Sahara — relatively
sophisticated bowls decorated with a toothed
wheel. The authors explore the origins of post-
Pleistocene settlers in the Sahara and the Nile
Valley and discuss what prompted them to
make pottery.

Keywords: Nile Valley, Nabta Playa, Early Holocene (10–9k BP), El Adam, pottery, ceramics

Introduction
The region of Nabta Playa-Kiseiba, excavated by the Combined Prehistoric Expedition,
occupies a significant place on the map of the eastern Sahara (Figure 1). It has provided
numerous sites from the oldest settlement in the area, which occurred following a long,
arid period at the end of the Pleistocene (Wendorf & Schild 1980, 1998, 2001a; Banks
1984; Close 1987; Nelson et al. 2002). The pottery from the region plays an important
role in understanding and defining the region’s cultural development in the Early Holocene.
Many years of excavation combined with the study of pottery production technology and
1
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Branch Poznań, Rubież Street 46, 61-612
Poznań, Poland (Email: jordeczka@iaepan.poznan.pl)
2
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140 Warsaw,
Poland (Email: krolik@iaepan.edu.pl, rschild@iaepan.edu.pl)
3
Institute of Archaeology, Wrocław University, Szewska Street 48, 50-139 Wrocław, Poland (Email:
mirekmasojc@poczta.onet.pl)

Received: 12 November 2009; Revised: 2 June 2010; Accepted: 3 July 2010

ANTIQUITY 85 (2011): 99–115 http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/085/ant0850099.htm
99
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

its decoration have provided an abundance of data, while more than 100 radiocarbon dates
have enabled the determination of a fairly precise chronology (Schild & Wendorf 2001a:
45–6, 2001b: 52–4, tab. 3.1).
The oldest ceramic types appear very early in the southern Western Desert of Egypt,
within the Early Holocene El Adam phase (Nelson et al. 2002), which dates from c. 9800 BP
(10 000–8750 cal BC at 1σ ) (at El Adam
Playa) to 8870 BP (8240–7750 cal BC
at 1σ ) (at Site E-77-7, El Gebal El Beid
Playa). The El Adam ceramics are among
the earliest examples of pottery production
in Africa, which from its first appearance
presents a technologically advanced form.
The El Adam vessels, decorated with simple
impression and simple rocker-stamp motifs
belong to a wide, early Saharan/Sudanese
tradition of pottery manufacture, which
emerges in the Sahara and the northern
Sahel (Roset 1982, 1987a; Connor 1984;
Barich 1998; Wendorf et al. 2001; Nelson
et al. 2002; Haour 2003; Jesse 2003a;
Huysecom et al. 2009; Ozainne et al. 2009).
The El Adam pottery, however scant, is
encountered at nearly all sites connected
with this phase. The scarcity of potsherds
buried in situ has often raised doubts as to
the association of the ceramic vessels with
the early El Adam settlements. The latest
excavations in Nabta Playa, however, have
Figure 1. Location of Nabta Playa and Kiseiba. yielded new chronological data pertaining
to the age of early pottery-making in the
southern region of the Western Desert of Egypt. We present here the discovery of this
pottery in situ and discuss its context within the earliest pottery manufacture in Africa.

The Nabta Playa site

Site E-06–1, where excavation began in 2006, is located on the eastern shore of the
Early Holocene Nabta Playa lake (Figures 2 & 3). Although partially truncated by recent
wind erosion, the site is embedded in dunes at the shoreline and overlapped by a massive
lower–mid Holocene silt deposition which heralded a major arid phase (compare Schild
& Wendorf 2001a). So far a dozen remains of dwellings, several dozen hearths and rich
artefact assemblages have been excavated, including nearly 20 000 stone artefacts and bone
fragments, together with eight pottery sherds, five of which were embedded in the dated
archaeological features (Figure 4). Analysis of the material indicates that the huts belong

100
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 2. Map of the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba area showing the locations of major playas, modern waterholes and El Adam sites
(map by Applegate, after Wendorf & Schild 2001a: 3, updated).

to the El Adam phase and were inhabited by a small group of people. The uncalibrated
radiocarbon dates indicate an occupation between 9200–9000 BP.

The pottery
The El Adam variant of pottery is known in the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba basins from six sites
(Figure 2): E-75-9 (Wendorf & Schild 2001b: 109, 13(?) fragments); E-77-7 (Close &
Wendorf 2001: 68, 1 fragment); E-79-8 (Connor 1984: 239–44, 6(?) fragments); E-80-
4 (Close 1984: 346, 5 fragments); E-91-3 (Close 2001: 79, 7 fragments); and E-06-1 (8
fragments) (Figures 5–9). All of the excavated vessel fragments represent a high technological
level. Extensive studies of the production technology of pottery in the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba
region were carried out by Zedeño (2002). Zedeño found that the Early Holocene pottery
from the Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba basins was made from locally available material. Clay
was acquired at the edge of the playa, while easily available granite temper could come from
eroding igneous rocks present on the surface (Nelson 2002a: 3). Sometimes sand with an
admixture of mica was used for temper. Generally, the exterior colour of the vessel is slightly
grey, while the core’s colour ranges from grey to black. The pottery from Site E-06–1 is
characterised by the reddish colour of the exterior and the high proportion (30–50 per cent)
of relatively coarse mineral temper (see below).

101
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

Figure 3. Map of the Nabta Playa area showing the locations of the sites studied (temporary lakes are shown in blue).

102
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 4. Site E-06-1: northern wall of squares BB-B/14; cross-section of El Adam huts.

Figure 5. Bir Kiseiba, Site E-79-8; El Adam sherds (after Connor 1984: fig. 11.15).

103
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

Figure 6. El Adam sherds: 1–4) Nabta Playa, Site E-75-9 (after Nelson 2002b: fig. 3.3); 5) El Beid Playa, Site E-77-7
(after Close & Wendorf 2001: fig. 4.7).

Forms of vessels
Forms of Early Holocene vessels from the southern region of Egypt’s Western Desert are very
standardised, e.g. they are solely bowls of various size and depth with varying thickness of
walls, from 4.5–10mm, usually c. 6mm (Nelson 2002a: 2). In the case of El Adam pottery,
considerable fragmentation prevents any more precise analysis of vessel shapes. Only three
rims were found. The bowl from E-06-1 was c. 38cm in diameter (Figure 9), while the size
of the vessel from E-79-8 was determined by Connor as exceeding 40cm (1984: 240; Figure
5). For the same reason it is difficult to replicate production techniques. However, all the
Early Holocene vessels were made in the same way: they were constructed by coiling or a
combination of padding and coiling; their surface was smoothed. When a formed vessel
started to dry, decoration began (Nelson 2002a: 3).

Surface treatment
Nelson observed two types of decoration on the pottery from the oldest phase: simple
impression (S1) and simple rocker-stamp (R1). Decoration of the S1 type could be applied
using a comb with a few rectangular- or round-tipped teeth. The tool was pushed into
wet clay, lifted and pressed in again in another place (Nelson 2002a). A classic example of
this type of ornament was found at Site E-79-8 (Figure 5, nos. 1–3), where three pottery
fragments found in situ are decorated by bands composed of slightly curved lines impressed
with a comb (Connor 1984: 239–44). Such an object could have been made from a fragment
of an ostrich eggshell with a notched edge. The pottery was made from clay tempered with
sand with a slight admixture of mica.
The same site also provided three different sherds. In one case, it is a motif of the S1
type, probably made by comb impressions, but this time it consists of straight, rather than

104
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 7. Nabta Playa, Site E-06-1, wheel-stamped pottery (photograph: M. Jórdeczka).

wavy lines (Figure 5, no. 4). The remaining two sherds (Figure 5, nos. 5 & 6) display
a motif which Connor describes as a linear mat pattern (Connor 1984: 243). A very
similar motif (R1 in Nelson’s terminology) comes from well-dated El Adam sites E-75-9,
E-77-7 and E-06-1.
All the vessel fragments acquired so far from Nabta Playa Site E-06-1 display the surface
treatment discussed above. The patterns consist of lines, parallel to the rim and located at
the same distance to one another (c. 6–9mm measuring from the centre of the line), which
differ in composition and shape of impressions. Bigger sherds show that the impression
pattern repeats itself every four lines, which may mean that the potter had at his disposal
at least four tools for making impressions (Figures 7–10). An almost identical character of
pattern is visible on a pottery sherd from Site E-77-7 at El Gebal El Beid Playa (Close &
Wendorf 2001: 68). It belongs to the El Adam phase, which is substantiated by both flint
artefact collection and the radiocarbon date of 8875+ −75 BP (ETH-8583) on a charcoal
fragment excavated in close proximity to the pottery found in situ (Figure 6, no. 5).
Site E-75-9 produced 13 potsherds. Precise assignment of the first nine constitutes a
problem as they come from excavations carried out in the 1970s, when they were found
on the surface and were then determined to be a later admixture (Wendorf & Schild

105
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

Figure 8. Nabta Playa, Site E-06-1, wheel-stamped pottery (photograph: M. Jórdeczka).

Figure 9. Nabta Playa, Site E-06-1, wheel-stamped pottery (drawing: M. Puszkarski).

2001b: 109). After 15 years, excavations at the site were resumed with the aim to prove
the occurrence of the pottery from the period of El Adam settlement. Another four pottery
fragments were found, including one in situ. It was decorated with lines, parallel to the
rim, of deep, tightly packed, stamped rectangular impressions (Figure 6, nos. 1–4). The
paste used for their production was tempered with a mineral, probably granite, admixture
(Wendorf & Schild 2001b: 109).

Roulette disk
The pottery from Site E-75-9 discussed above includes an interesting object — the oldest
known example of a disk cut out from a vessel fragment (Figure 6, no. 4). It is small (27 ×
26 × 5mm) and its outer rim was formed by chipping. The pattern preserved on its exterior

106
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 10. Nabta Playa pottery disks: 1–4), Site E-91-1; 5) Site E-92-7; 6) Site E-00-1 (after Nelson 2002b, drawing: M.
Puszkarski).

is the same as that shown on the remaining sherds from this site. Similar objects have been
excavated in several sites in the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba area, though in their majority they
come from slightly younger phases of the Early Neolithic (Gatto 2002; Nelson 2002b).
Made from fragments of broken vessels, they are of relatively standardised sizes (usually c.
4.5–6cm in diameter) and of regular, circular shape. Their perimeter is frequently polished
and additionally notched, forming a serrated edge with the tops of the prongs square or
oval. The centre of each disk displayed a bored hole. It is interesting that the traces of the
ornament preserved on the exteriors of the disks (Figures 10 & 11) nearly always exhibit
the S1/R1 motif and that they were found on sites that produced pottery decorated in this
way. Some disks bear traces of considerable wear (Nelson 2002b).

107
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

A close examination of the motif on the El Adam pottery from Site E-06-1 reveals that an
individual vessel frequently displays several types of lines (Figures 7–9). In numerous cases
these various lines are nearly ideally parallel
and evenly spaced, forming wider structures
sometimes composed of several lines. This
arrangement may suggest that a set of
several rotating toothed disks of the same
diameter was used in producing the motifs.
The experiments carried out to verify the
assumptions above (Figure 12) confirmed
the possibility of quick application of
decorations of this type (wheel stamp) by
using toothed disks. Two aspects should
be emphasised here. When one disk is
used, the depth of the ornament is under
complete control, but when several objects
are used concurrently, it is necessary to
match the diameters of all the disks
precisely.
A different type of motif was encoun-
tered on Site E-91-3 also from the El Adam
phase. Nelson identifies the motif observed
on five pottery fragments as the R1 type
Figure 11. Nabta Playa, Site E-92-7: Al Jerar pottery disk
(Figure 13). It was made with a small,
(photograph by M. Jórdeczka). thin, arch-like tool without serrated edges.
A series of diagonal, wavy, tightly packed
imprints of 10mm in length running slightly diagonal to the rim were probably made with a
rocker-stamp (Nelson 2002b: 21). The vessel’s interior was smoothed and, like the exterior,
was yellow-brown in colour. Sand grains and crushed granite were used as a temper. As all
the sherds from Site E-91-3 were found on the surface, categorical assignment of this type
of motif, found on this site alone, to the El Adam phase is uncertain (Close 2001: 79).

The wider picture: Nabta Playa-Kiseiba and the early pottery in Africa
The discoveries made in the last decades indicate that pottery was independently invented in
numerous places in the world. The oldest examples (c. 15 000 cal BP) probably come from
eastern Asia (Kuzmin 2006). In Africa, this groundbreaking invention probably occurred
later, though it is difficult to determine exactly where and when. In recent years the number
of radiocarbon dates from African sites with early pottery has been growing fast and now
the Sahara is considered one of the oldest centres of pottery introduction (Figure 14).
Excluding Site E-79-8 at El Adam Playa (Connor 1984), the oldest known examples
of pottery production in the Sahara come from Mali (a complex of Early Holocene sites
in Ounjougou, dated to the period preceding 9400 cal BC: Huysecom et al. 2009: 911;
Ozainne et al. 2009: 39, 41). At Ravin de la Mouche, Ounjougou, however, redeposited

108
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 12. Experiments (photograph: M. Jórdeczka).

Figure 13. Nabta Playa, Site E-91-3: simple rocker-stamp pottery (after Nelson 2002b).

pottery appears already in the two oldest strata, HA1 and HAO, deposited before 9400 cal
BC (Huysecom et al. 2009: 909). On the other hand, the earliest assay from Site E-79-8
of 9820+−380 BP (SMU-858) (Connor 1984: 39) carries a very large standard deviation
that may place the age of the sample between about 10 000 and 8800 cal BC (at 1σ ). The
presence of rare, but quite specific pottery in the El Adam cultural environment has been
demonstrated at the oldest sites. The same type of pottery continues until the disappearance
of the El Adam traditions from Egypt’s Western Desert, i.e. in the subsequent hyper-arid
phase.

109
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

Figure 14. Radiocarbon ages of sites with early ceramics in North Africa (after Jesse 2003b, updated). Key: WL = wavy
line; DWL = dotted wavy line; IWL = incised wavy line: S1/R1 = simple impression/simple rocker-stamp.

The earliest pottery dates scatter along the southern and central Sahara, northern Sahel and
the south-eastern fringes of the desert (Figures 15). This ancient African pottery emerges in
largely differing cultural units, presenting diverse surface treatments and decoration motifs
(types), implying that these areas are not necessarily regions of its origin. According to
Huysecom, pottery may have been invented in the present-day Sahel-Sudanese belt, from
where it expanded to the central Sahara, where it was already known in the ninth millennium
BC (Huysecom et al. 2009: 915). For Close (1995), on the other hand, pottery appeared in
societies depending on aquatic resources and cereals, probably in a region spread between the
Nile and the Hoggar Massif. Haaland (2007: 170) prefers to see its origin in the Nile Valley,
while Jesse (2003a: 35) favours the southern Sahara, Sahel and the Hoggar mountains.
It seems that our current understanding of the appearance of ceramics in the Early
Holocene Sahara and northern Sahel is a history of pottery-container adoption rather than
invention. While factors leading to pottery invention might have been drastically variable
and certainly extremely murky, as suggested by the sudden appearance of ceramics in
diverse areas, periods and eco-zones of the world, its subsequent inclusion in the toolkit
of a particular ecology and culture seems easier to explain. Huysecom et al. (2009: 915)
link the use of ceramics with the development of a new technological complex emerging

110
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

Research
Figure 15. Major sites with early pottery in North Africa (after Jesse 2003b).

with the spread of grasslands invading the former desert areas after the northward shift of
the monsoon front in the Early Holocene. Pottery containers would be a response to the
needs of a new food processing technology involving the boiling of ground Panicoidae grass
seeds. Food boiling, however, was not invented in the Sahel at the turn of Pleistocene and
Holocene, just near the end of the Last Termination. Ground and boiled, and therefore not
poisonous, tubers of nut-grass and club-rush were most probably processed (Jones 1989:
265; Roubet 1989) already in the early Late Palaeolithic in Wadi Kubbaniya, just below the
first Nile cataract, in around 20 000 cal BC (Hillman et al. 1989: 184).
A number of authors have argued that the appearance of pottery in Africa was tightly
linked to the use of aquatic resources as well as to food preparation technologies involving
boiling soup and porridge (e.g. Sutton 1977; Halaand 2007), suggesting the Nile Valley
was the place where African pottery was invented (Haaland 2007: 170). This, obviously,
is not the same ecological stage on which the El Adam gatherers-cattle keepers and small
game hunters acted. They came to the southern Western Desert of Egypt in the El Adam
Humid Interphase which is coeval with the Early Holocene. It was a relatively dry period
characterised by a weak summer rainfall and limited vegetation of oasis character, restricted
to seasonal basins (playas) and natural desert wells. Tamarix was the only tree present among
charred floral macroremains recovered from occupation levels at Site E-77-7, El Gebal El
Beid Playa (Barakat 2001: 599–600). No traces of grass-use have been noted. It is believed
that the subsistence of the El Adam desert dwellers was largely based on cattle herding and
hunting small game. It is only during the Holocene Climatic Maximum, at about 7000
to 6000 cal BC in the El Nabta/Al Jerar Humid Interphase that various seeds, including
sorghum and millet, emerge in massive quantities in the upper Early Neolithic settlements

111
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa

of Nabta Playa (Wasylikowa 2001) and slightly later at Farafra (Fahmy 2001), together with
common storage facilities (Wendorf & Schild 2006) and numerous pottery vessels (Al Jerar
variant).
Searching for the rationale behind the adoption of pottery manufacture in Egypt’s
Western Desert, Nieves Zedeño (2002: 61) followed the theoretical approach of Mills
(1992) concerning the socio-economic causes for adopting ceramics, and Bleed’s (1986)
optimal design of tool system. She thus links the use of Early Neolithic ceramic containers
in the Nabta Playa-Kiseiba areas with their inclusion into the sustainable tool kit of mobile
hunter-gatherer-cattle keepers in an environment characterised by the limited availability
of water and wild resources, which led to constraints in mobility. Limited mobility could
have activated a demand for simple ceramic containers chiefly because of their low labour
investment, multi-functional use and portability (see also Garcea 2004: 111).

Conclusion
Finds of the earliest African pottery come from the south-eastern and southern fringes of the
Sahara as well as its central, mountainous regions, i.e. the areas of the Early Holocene reach
of the summer rainfall, a consequence of the northward shift of monsoonal circulation. The
oldest African vessels from fired clay known so far represent a very high technological level
and a simple, very limited range of shapes.
It is obvious that Early Holocene colonisers of the Sahara came from regions that could
be settled during the arid period of the late Pleistocene. This poses yet another problem —
where were they situated? Could these regions also include the mountainous central Sahara
(Jesse 2003a: 43)? Most of the central Sahara data, however, indicate the onset of humid
conditions as late as the Early Holocene (compare summary in Wendorf et al. 2007: 197).
In short, data presently to hand exclude the possibility of human survival in the central
Sahara mountainous area during the Late Glacial or early Last Termination.
It is more than likely that the Early Holocene colonisers of the southern Western Desert,
the El Adam hunter-gatherer-cattle keepers, came to the south-eastern fringes of the Sahara
from the Nile Valley. The El Adam technology and style is almost identical to that of the
Arkinian, a final Late Palaeolithic culture known from the flooded village of Arkin in Lower
Nubia, some 80km to the south-east of Nabta Playa (Schild et al. 1968). The oldest known
Arkinian settlements have been securely dated to the early Younger Dryas, c. 10 900–10 400
cal BC (Wendorf et al. 1979). Other sites, whilst clearly stratigraphically younger, have not
yet been radiocarbon dated. Excavations of the early Arkinian occupations have not yielded
pottery; however, the areas opened were limited to only around 20m2 at the oldest in situ
campsite — Dibeira West 1, Concentration A (Schild et al. 1968: 654; de Heinzelin 1968:
fig. 41).
Here we should perhaps mention important possible parallels resulting from stratigraphies
of language in north-eastern Africa. The terminology associated with cattle raising in the
northern Sudanic division of the Nilo-Saharan languages was established before 8500 BC,
perhaps around the same time that the first pottery-making registered in the lexical data
(Ehrer 2006: 1044). Where, then, were the most likely potential African pottery inventors

112
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.

and pot-makers dwelling? Presumably also in the areas of natural occurrence of the extinct
aurochs, in our case in the Nile Valley, in Lower Nubia, north of the tsetse fly line.

Acknowledgements

Research
The Combined Prehistoric Expedition is an international research body founded in 1962 and in recent
years jointly sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Southern
Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, and The Combined Prehistoric Expedition Foundation.

References CLOSE, A.E. & F. WENDORF. 2001. Site E-77–7

BANKS, K.M. 1984. Climates, cultures and cattle: the
Holocene archaeology of the eastern Sahara. Dallas
(TX): Department of Anthropology, Institute for
the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist
University.
BARAKAT, H. 2001. Anthracological studies in the
Neolithic sites of Nabta Playa, south Egypt, in
F. Wendorf, R. Schild & associates (ed.) Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume 1: the
archaeology of Nabta Playa: 592–600. New York &
London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
BARICH, B.E. 1998. People, water and grain: the
beginnings of domestication in the Sahara and the
Nile Valley. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider.
BLEED, P. 1986. The optimal design of hunting
weapons: maintainability or reliability. American
Antiquity 51: 737–47.
CAMPS, G. 1969. Amekni: Néolithique ancien du Hoggar
(Mémoires du Centre de Recherches
anthropologiques, préhistoriques et
ethnographiques 10). Paris: Arts et métiers
graphiques.
CLOSE, A.E. 1984. Report on Site E-80–4, in A.E.
Close (ed.) Cattle-keepers of the eastern Sahara: the
Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba (assembled by F. Wendorf &
R. Schild): 325–49. Dallas (TX): Department of
Anthropology, Institute for the Study of Earth and
Man, Southern Methodist University.
– 1987. Preface, in A.E. Close (ed.) Prehistory of arid
North Africa: essays in honour of Fred Wendorf:
xi–xvi. Dallas (TX): Southern Methodist University
Press.
– 1995. Few and far between. Early ceramics in North
Africa, in W.K. Barnett & J.W. Hoopes (ed.) The
emergence of pottery: technology and innovation in
ancient societies: 23–37. Washington (DC):
Smithsonian Institution Press.
– 2001. Sites E-91–3 and E-91–4: the Early Neolithic
of El Adam type at Nabta Playa, in F. Wendorf, R.
Schild & associates (ed.) Holocene settlement of the
Egyptian Sahara, Volume 1: the archaeology of Nabta
Playa: 71–97. New York & London: Kluwer
Academic/Plenum.
revisited: the Early Neolithic of El Adam type at El
Gebal El Beid Playa, in F. Wendorf, R. Schild &
associates (ed.) Holocene settlement of the Egyptian
Sahara, Volume 1: the archaeology of Nabta Playa:
57–71. New York & London: Kluwer
Academic/Plenum.
CONNOR, D.R. 1984. Report on Site E-79–8, in A.E.
Close (ed.) Cattle-keepers of the eastern Sahara: the
Neolithic of Bir Kiseiba (assembled by F. Wendorf &
R. Schild): 217–50. Dallas (TX): Department of
Anthropology, Institute for the Study of Earth and
Man, Southern Methodist University.
CREMASCHI, M. & S. DI LERNIA. 1999. The 1993 and
1994 excavations: geomorphology, stratigraphic
context and dates, in S. Di Lernia (ed.) The Uan
Afuda cave: hunter-gatherer societies of Central
Sahara (Arid zone archaeology monographs 1):
9–26. Florence: All’insegna del giglio.
EHRER, C. 2006. Linguistic stratigraphies and Holocene
history in northeastern Africa, in K. Kroeper, M.
Chłodnicki & M. Kobusiewicz (ed.) Archaeology of
early Northeastern Africa: in memory of Lech
Krzyżaniak (Studies in African archaeology 9):
1019–55. Poznań: Poznań Archaeological Museum.
FAHMY, A.G.-E. 2001. Palaeoethnobotanical studies of
the Neolithic settlement in Hidden Valley, Frafra
Oasis, Egypt. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany
10: 235–46.
GARCEA, E.A.A. 1996. The long sequence at Uan Tabu
(Libyan Sahara): Aterian and Holocene deposit, in
G. Aumassip, J.D. Clark & F. Mori (ed.) The
prehistory of Africa (Series Colloquia 15): 183–94.
Forli: A.B.A.C.O.
– 2004. An alternative way towards food production:
the perspective from the Libyan Sahara. Journal of
World Prehistory 18: 107–54.
GATTO, M.C. 2002. Early Neolithic pottery of the
Nabta-Kiseiba area: stylistic attributes and regional
relationships, in K. Nelson, M.C. Gatto, F. Jesse &
M.N. Zedeño (ed.) Holocene settlement of the
Egyptian Sahara, Volume 2: the pottery of Nabta
Playa: 65–79. New York & London: Kluwer
Academic/Plenum.

113
 Early Holocene pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt: new data from Nabta Playa
GEHLEN, B., K. KINDERMAN, J. LINSTÄDTER & H.
RIEMER. 2002. The Holocene occupation of the
eastern Sahara: regional chronologies and
supra-regional developments in four areas in the
absolute desert, in Jennerstrasse 8 (ed.) Tides of the
desert: contributions to the archaeology and
environmental history of Africa in honour of Rudolph
Kuper/Gezeiten der Wüste: Beiträge zu Archäologie
und Umweltgeschichte Afrikas zu Ehren von Rudolph
Kuper: 85–117. Köln: Heinrich Barth Institut.
HAALAND, R. 2007. Porridge and pot, bread and oven:
food ways and symbolism in Africa and the Near
East from the Neolithic to the present. Cambridge
Archaeological Journal 17(2): 165–82.
HAOUR, A.C. 2003. One hundred years of archaeology
in Niger. Journal of World Prehistory 17(2):
181–234.
DE HEINZELIN, J. 1968. Atlas, in F. Wendorf (ed.) The
prehistory of Nubia, Volume 3: atlas: figs. 1–82. Taos
(NM): Fort Burgwin Research Center.
HILLMAN, G., E. MADEYSKA & J. HATHER. 1989. Wild
plant foods and diet in Late Paleolithic Wadi
Kubbaniya: the evidence from charred remains, in
A.E. Close (ed.) The prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya,
Volume 2: stratigraphy, paleoeconomy, and
environment (assembled by F. Wendorf & R.
Schild): 162–242. Dallas (TX): Southern
Methodist University Press.
HUYSECOM, E., M. RASSE, L. LESPEZ, K. NEUMANN, A.
FAHMY, A. BALLOUCHE, S. OZAINNE, M. MAGETTII,
CH, TRIBOLO & S. SORIANO. 2009. The emergence
of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal
BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali).
Antiquity 83: 905–917.
JESSE, F. 2003a. Early ceramics in the Sahara and the
Nile Valley, in L. Krzyżaniak, K. Kroeper & M.
Kobusiewicz (ed.) Cultural markers in the later
prehistory of Northeastern Africa and recent research
(Studies in African archaeology 8): 35–50. Poznań:
Poznań Archaeological Museum.
– 2003b. Rahib 80/87: ein Wavy-Line-Fundplatz im
Wadi Howar und die früheste Keramik in Nordafrika.
Köln: Heinrich Barth Institut.
JONES, C.E.R. 1989. Archaeochemistry: facts or fancy,
in A.E. Close (ed.) The prehistory of Wadi
Kubbaniya, Volume 2: stratigraphy, paleoeconomy,
and environment (assembled by F. Wendorf & R.
Schild): 260–66. Dallas (TX): Southern Methodist
University.
KHABIR, A.R. 1987. New radiocarbon dates for Sarurab
2 and the age of the Early Khartoum tradition.
Current Anthropology 28: 377–80.
KUZMIN, Y.V. 2006. Chronology of the earliest pottery
in East Asia: progress and pitfalls. Antiquity 80:
362–71.
114
MILLS, B.K. 1992. Ceramic technology: expedient
versus curated technologies. Paper presented at a
Symposium in honour of Lewis R. Binford, 3–5
November 1989, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque.
NELSON, K. 2002a. Introduction, in K. Nelson, M.C.
Gatto, F. Jesse & M.N. Zedeño (ed.) Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume 2: the
pottery of Nabta Playa: 1–8. New York & London:
Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
– 2002b. Ceramic assemblages of the Nabta-Kiseiba
area, in K. Nelson, M.C. Gatto, F. Jesse & M.N.
Zedeño (ed.) Holocene settlement of the Egyptian
Sahara, Volume 2: the pottery of Nabta Playa: 21–50.
New York & London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
NELSON, K., M.C. GATTO, F. JESSE & M.N. ZEDEÑO.
2002. Holocene settlement of the Egyptian Sahara,
Volume 2: the pottery of Nabta Playa. New York &
London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
OZAINNE, S., E. HUYSECOM, A. MAYOR, C.
ROBION-BRUNNER & S. SORIANO. 2009. Une
chronologie pour le peuplement et le climat du pays
dogon: la séquence culturelle et environnementale
du gisement d’Ounjougou (Mali). Antropo 18:
37–46.
ROSET, J.P. 1982. Tagalagal: un site à céramiques au Xe
millénaire avant notre ère dans l’Aı̈r (Niger).
Comptes-rendus des séances de l’Académie des
inscriptions et belles-lettres 126(3): 565–70.
– 1987a. Paleoclimatic and cultural conditions of
Neolithic development in the Early Holocene of
northern Niger (Aı̈r and Ténéré), in A.E. Close
(ed.) Prehistory of arid North Africa: essays in honour
of Fred Wendorf: 211–34. Dallas (TX): Southern
Methodist University Press.
– 1987b. Néolithisation, Néolithique et
Post-Néolithique au Niger nord-oriental. Bulletin
de l’Association française pour l’Etude du Quaternaire
24: 203–214.
ROUBET, C. 1989. The grinding stones of Site E-78–3,
Wadi Kubbaniya, in A.E. Close (ed.) The prehistory
of Wadi Kubbaniya, Volume 3: Late Palaeolithic
archaeology (assembled by F.Wendorf & R. Schild):
473–89. Dallas (TX): Southern Methodist
University Press.
SCHILD, R. & F. WENDORF. 2001a. Geomorphology,
lithostratigraphy, geochronology and taphonomy of
sites, in F. Wendorf, R. Schild & associates (ed.)
Holocene settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume
1: the archaeology of Nabta Playa: 11–50. New York
& London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
 Maciej Jórdeczka et al.
– 2001b. Combined prehistoric expedition’s
radiocarbon dates associated with Neolithic
occupations in the southern Western Desert of
Egypt, in F. Wendorf, R. Schild & associates (ed.)
Holocene settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume
1: the archaeology of Nabta Playa: 51–6. New York
& London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
SCHILD, R., M. CHMIELEWSKA & H. WICKOWSKA.
1968. The Arkinian and Shamarkian industries, in
F. Wendorf (ed.) The prehistory of Nubia, Volume 2:
651–767. Taos (NM): Fort Burgwin Research
Center.
SUTTON, J.E.G. 1977. The African Aqualithic.
Antiquity 51: 25–33.
WASYLIKOWA, K. 2001. Site E-75–6: vegetation and
subsistence if the Early Neolithic at Nabta Playa,
Egypt, reconstructed from charred plant remains, in
F. Wendorf, R. Schild & associates (ed.) Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume 1: the
archaeology of Nabta Playa: 544–591. New York &
London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
WENDORF, F. & R. SCHILD. 1980. Prehistory of the
eastern Sahara. New York & London: Academic
Press.
– 1998. Nabta Playa and its role in northeastern African
prehistory. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
17: 97–123.
– 2001a. Introduction, in F. Wendorf, R. Schild &
associates (ed.) Holocene settlement of the Egyptian
Sahara, Volume 1: the archaeology of Nabta Playa:
1–10. New York & London: Kluwer
Academic/Plenum.
115
– 2001b. Site E-75–9: the excavation of an El Adam (?)
Early Neolithic settlement at Nabta Playa, in F.
Wendorf, R. Schild & associates (ed.) Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume 1: the
archaeology of Nabta Playa: 97–110. New York &
Research
London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
– 2006. The emergence of village settlements during
the Early Neolithic in the Western Desert of Egypt.
Adumatu 14: 7–22.
WENDORF, F. R. SCHILD & H. HAAS. 1979. A new
radiocarbon chronology for prehistoric sites in
Nubia. Journal of Field Archaeology 6: 219–23.
WENDORF, F., R. SCHILD & ASSOCIATES. 2001. Holocene
settlement of the Egyptian Sahara, Volume 1: the
archaeology of Nabta Playa. New York & London:
Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
WENDORF, F. W. KARLÉN & R. SCHILD. 2007. Middle
Holocene environments of North and East Africa,
with special emphasis on the African Sahara, in
D.G. Anderson, K.A. Maasch & D.H. Sandweiss
(ed.) Climate change & cultural dynamics: a global
perspective on mid-Holocene transitions: 189–227.
New York: Elsevier.
ZEDEÑO, M.N. 2002. Neolithic ceramic production in
the eastern Sahara of Egypt, in K. Nelson, M.C.
Gatto, F. Jesse & M.N. Zedeño (ed.) Holocene
Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara Volume 2: the
pottery of Nabta Playa: 51–64. New York &
London: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.