 Nabta Playa "calendar circle", reconstructed at Aswan Nubia museum | |
  Nabta Playa Shown within Northeast Africa Show map of Northeast Africa Nabta Playa Nabta Playa (Egypt) Show map of Egypt | |
 Interactive map of Nabta Playa | |
| Location | Egypt |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 22°30′29″N30°43′32″E / 22.507967°N 30.725600°E /22.507967; 30.725600 |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | Approximately 7500 BC |
| Periods | Neolithic |
Nabta Playa was once a largeendorheic basin (a temporary lake, or "playa") in theNubian Desert, located approximately 800 kilometers south of modern-dayCairo[1] or about 100 kilometers west ofAbu Simbel in southernEgypt,[2] 22.51° north, 30.73° east.[3] Today the region is characterized by numerousarchaeological sites.[2] The Nabta Playa archaeological site, one of the earliest of theNubian Neolithic Period, is dated to circa 7500 BC.[4][5]
Although today the western Egyptian desert is totally dry, this was not always the case. There is good evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per year), themost recent one during the lastinterglacial and early last glaciation periods which stretched between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago. During this time, the area was asavanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle. Beginning around the10th millennium BC, this region of theNubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling a lake.[2] Early people may have been attracted to the region due to the source of water.
Archaeological findings indicate the presence of small seasonal camps in the region dating to the9th–8th millennia BC.[2]Fred Wendorf, the site's discoverer, and ethno-linguistChristopher Ehret have suggested that the people who occupied this region at that time may have been earlypastoralists, or like theSaami practiced semi-pastoralism.[2] This is disputed by other sources as the cattle remains found at Nabta have been shown to be morphologically wild in several studies, and hunter-gatherers at the nearby Saharan site ofUan Afada in Libya were penning wildBarbary sheep, an animal that was never domesticated.[6] According to Michael Brass (2018) early cattle remains from Nabta Playa were wild huntedaurochs, whilstdomesticated cattle were introduced to northeast Africa in the late 7th millennium BC, originating from cattle domesticated in theEuphrates valley.[7]
Larger settlements began to appear at Nabta Playa by the7th millennium BC, relying on deepwells for sources of water.[2] Smallhuts were constructed in straightrows.[2] Sustenance included wild plants, such aslegumes,millets,sorghum,tubers, and fruit.[2] Around 6800 BC they began to make pottery locally.[2] In the late 7th millennium BCgoats andsheep, apparently imported from Western Asia, appear.[8] Many largehearths also appear.[2]
Early pottery from the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area has characteristics unlike pottery from surrounding regions. This is followed by pottery with characteristics found only in theWestern Desert. Later pottery from c. 5500 BC (Al Jerar phase) has similarities with pottery from theSudanese region.[9] Pottery decorations included complex patterns of impressions applied with a comb in a rocking motion.[2]
Joel D. Irish (2001), reported in "Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara", based onosteological and dental data suggested a mainly sub-Saharan African affinity and origin at Nabta (with sub-Saharan tendencies most commonly detected), but also possible North African tendencies, concluding that, "Henneberg et al. suggest that the Nabta Playa people may have been most similar to Negroes from south of the Sahara. The present qualitative dental comparison tentatively supports this conclusion.".[10][11]
Some researchers, including Christopher Ehret, have suggested aNilo-Saharan linguistic affinity for the Nabta people.[12] In a more recent publication, Ehret argued that the material cultural indicators correspond with the conclusion that the inhabitants of the wider Nabta Playa region were aNilo-Saharan-speaking population.[13]
Egyptian historian H. A. A. Ibrahim examined the megalithic complex of Nabta Playa, Upper Egypt to understand the cultural and population influences of theHolocene on pre-dynastic Egypt. She cited an anthropological study confirming the appearance of a Sub-Saharan high status child in a ceremonial center and concluded that the megalithic structures had close resemblance to comparable structures in theSahelian and Sub-Saharan regions of Africa.[14]
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Archaeological discoveries reveal that theseNew Stone Age peoples seem to have lived more organized lives than theircontemporaries nearer to and in theNile Valley.[2] The people of Nabta Playa hadvillages with 'planned' layouts, with deepwells that held water year-round.
Findings also indicate that the region was occupied only seasonally, most likely only in thesummer, when the local lake had adequate water forgrazingcattle.[2] Comparative research suggests the indigenous inhabitants may have a significantly more advanced knowledge of astronomy than previously thought possible. This complexity as expressed by different levels of authority within the society there likely formed the basis for the structure of both the Neolithic society at Nabta and theOld Kingdom of Egypt.[15]
By the6th millennium BC, evidence of a prehistoricreligion orcult appears. From 5500 BC the Late Neolithic period began, with "a new group that had a complex social system expressed in a degree of organisation and control not previously seen."[16] These new people were responsible forsacrificial cattle burials inclay-lined and roofed chambers covered by roughstone tumuli.[2]
It has been suggested that the associatedcattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution ofAncient Egypt'sHathorcult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in desert regions (seeSerabit el-Khadim). To directly quote professors Wendorf and Schild:[2]
... there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life inprehistoric Egypt and the Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact fromSaharan cattlepastoralists ...
Rough megalithic stone structures buried underground are also found in Nabta Playa, one of which included evidence of what Wendorf described as perhaps "the oldest known sculpture in Egypt."[2]
In the5th millennium BC these peoples fashioned what may be among the world's earliest knownarcheoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to theGoseck circle in Germany and theMnajdra megalithic temple complex in Malta). These include alignments of stones that may have indicated the rising of certain stars and a "calendar circle" that indicates the approximate direction ofsummersolstice sunrise.[17] "Calendar circle" may be a misnomer as the spaces between the pairs of stones in the gates are a bit too wide, and the distances between the gates are too short for accurate calendar measurements."[18] An inventory of Egyptian archaeoastronomical sites for theUNESCOWorld Heritage Convention evaluated Nabta Playa as having "hypothetical solar and stellar alignments."[19]
Astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests the hypothesis that the southerly line of three stones inside the Calendar Circle represented the three stars of Orion’s Belt and the other three stones inside the calendar circle represented the shoulders and head stars ofOrion as they appeared in the sky. These correspondences were for two dates – circa 4800 BC and at precessional opposition – representing how the sky "moves" long term. Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later date, and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of the motion of the sky over a precession cycle.
Near the Calendar Circle, which is made of smaller stones, there are alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these megaliths, Brophy argues, aligned to the same stars as represented in the Calendar Circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BC. Brophy argues that the Calendar Circle correlation with Orion's belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC, matching radio-carbon dates of some campfires in the area.[3]
A 2007 article by a team of University of Colorado archaeoastronomers and archaeologists (Malville, Schild, Wendorf and Brenmer, three of whom had been involved in the original discovery of the site and its astronomical alignment)[20] responded to the work of Brophy and Rosen, in particular their claims for an alignment withSirius in 6088 BC and other alignments which they dated to 6270 BC, saying that these dates "are about 1500 years earlier than our best estimates for the Terminal Neolithic and the construction of megalithic structures" at Nabta Playa.[16]
The Sirius alignment in question was originally proposed by Wendorf and Malville,[18] for one of the most prominent alignments of megaliths labelled the "C-line", which they said aligned to the rising of Sirius circa 4820 BC. Brophy and Rosen stated in 2005 that megalith orientations and star positions reported by Wendorf and Malville were in error, noting that "Given these corrected data, we see that Sirius actually aligned with the C-line circa 6000 BC. We estimate that 6088 BC Sirius had a declination of −36.51 degrees, for a rising azimuth exactly on the C-line average".[3] However, according to Malville, Schild et al. (2007) the dates proposed by Brophy are inconsistent with the archaeological evidence, and "inference in archaeoastronomy must always be guided and informed by archaeology, especially when substantial field work has been performed in the region". They also concluded that, on closer inspection, the C-line of megaliths "consists of stones resting on the sides and tops of dunes and may not represent an original set of aligned stele".[16]
They also criticised suggestions made by Brophy in his 2002 bookThe Origin Map that there was a representation of theMilky Way as it was in 17,500 BC and maps of Orion at 16,500 BC, saying "These extremely early dates as well as the proposition that thenomads had contact with extra-galactic aliens are inconsistent with the archaeological record."[16]
They propose that the area was first used as what they call a "regional ceremonial centre" around 6100 BC to 5600 BC with people coming from various locations to gather on the dunes surrounding the playa where there is archaeological evidence for gatherings that involved large numbers of cattle bones, as cattle were normally only killed on important occasions. Around 5500 BC a new, more organised group began to use the site, burying cattle in clay-lined chambers and building other tumuli. Around 4800 BC astone circle was constructed, with narrow slabs approximately aligned with the summer solstice, near the beginning of the rainy season.
More complex structures followed during a megalith period the researchers dated to between about 4500 BC to 3600 BC. Using their original measurements, complemented by satellite imagery and GPS measurements by Brophy and Rosen, they confirmed possible alignments with Sirius,Arcturus,Alpha Centauri, and the Belt of Orion. They suggest that there are three pieces of evidence suggesting astronomical observations by the herdsmen using the site, which may have functioned as anecropolis. "The repetitive orientation of megaliths, stele, human burials and cattle burials reveals a very early symbolic connection to the north." Secondly, there is the orientation of the cromlech mentioned above. The third piece of evidence is the fifth millennium alignments of stele to bright stars.[16]
They conclude their report by writing that "The symbolism embedded in the archaeological record of Nabta Playa in the Fifth Millennium BC is very basic, focussed on issues of major practical importance to the nomads: cattle, water, death, earth, sun and stars."[16]
In 2011, Maciej Jórdeczka, Halina Królik, Mirosław Masojć and Romuald Schild, a team of archaeologists, excavated a series of Holocene pottery from Nabta Playa which represented the earliest phase of ceramic production in the Saharan region and were described as "relatively sophisticated bowls decorated with a toothed wheel". Also, they argued that the pottery from the region had an important role in shaping the cultural development of theEastern Sahara during the early Holocene period. The authors concluded that it is "likely that the EarlyHolocene colonisers of the southern Western Desert, the El Adam hunter-gatherer-cattle keepers, came to the south-eastern fringes of the Sahara from theNile Valley" and shared an "almost identical" output of technology with the Arkinian culture inLower Nubia.[21]
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