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🇬🇧 Kadruka

Neolithic necropolises in the Ouadi el-Khowi

Under the direction of Olivier Langlois, Philippe Chambon, Pascal Sellier.

Team: Emma Maines (PhD student, Paris I), Aline Thomas (anthropologist, UMR 7206), Louiza Aoudia (anthropologist, Paris X), Rebiha Smaïl (archaeologist, Univeristé d’Alger), Claire Martha (designer, Arts et Métiers Strasbourg), Lucie Cez (doctoral student, Paris I), Wanda Zinger (archaeologist, UR 7206), Hassimi Sambo (archaeologist, University of Yaoundé), Lionel Gourichon (archaeozoologist, CEPAM), Mohamed Saad (NCAM inspector) and Hisham Krar (NCAM inspector).

Ongoing excavations ©mission Kadrouka

The Wadi el-Khowi, which follows the course of ancient Nile branches, is located on the east bank of the river, just south of the Third Cataract. The area is marked by a high concentration of funerary sites and settlements, with Neolithic occupations playing a particularly significant role. Wind erosion has severely worn down the settlement sites, leaving only scattered surface material visible today. In contrast, the cemeteries—built on elevated ground—have been better preserved, and their excavation now provides the most valuable insights into the societies that lived in the region between the 6th and 4th millennia BCE.

Salvage work conducted by the SFDAS—carried out in a region heavily impacted by agricultural development programs over recent years—has identified around fifty Neolithic burial and settlement sites. Of the roughly twenty known cemeteries, six have been fully or partially excavated by the SFDAS. Except for two burial mounds containing over a thousand graves each, the others hold just over a hundred burials. Nearly 700 burials have been documented, dating from approximately 4800 to 4000 BCE. The consistencies and variations observed in the material culture and funerary practices appear to reflect both the cultural homogeneity of these populations and the rapid evolution of their social structure.


These cemeteries bear witness to an increasingly hierarchical organization. During the Neolithic period, chiefdoms were established with the emergence of a dominant figure. These societies formed the basis of the first protohistoric states, paving the way for the first kingdoms.

The current campaigns are focusing on the excavation of Kom KDK 23 and the KDK 23H settlement, as well as identifying and protecting the major deposits in the region. Continued excavation of the KDK 23 cemetery has led to the discovery of 25 new graves and the identification of its eastern boundary. These discoveries bring the total number of tombs identified in this necropolis to over 100. The density is exceptionally high: up to five individuals buried successively in a space barely larger than 1m². It is possible to observe the way in which previous human remains were treated in the case of cross-burials: bones severed or ripped out, skeletons reintroduced into the backfill of a new burial, remains carefully replaced alongside the new deceased. On the other hand, the preferential location of the youngest subjects in the upper levels, already noted during previous missions, has been confirmed by the latest investigations. It remains to be seen whether this location is linked to a specific chronology for these burials.

umerous postholes indicating the presence of settlement structures have been uncovered in sector KDK 23H, near cemetery KDK 23. These pits are accompanied by fragments of archaeological layers found close to a hearth identified in 2016. The density of pits decreases upstream of the Nile paleochannel also identified that year. Geoarchaeological studies suggest that the oldest domestic structures, contemporary with the KDK 23 necropolis, were destroyed by river activity, leaving only remains from the later Neolithic period intact. Recent surveys indicate this pattern is not unique to the KDK 23 sector. While several koms appear to have served as burial sites throughout much of the 5th millennium BCE, nearby habitation sites show ceramic materials dating to the very end of that period.

In response to the expansion of agricultural cultivation, a series of surveys has been conducted in the Kadruka region to locate the most significant archaeological deposits. Since agricultural activity threatens the preservation of many sites, it is crucial to demarcate and protect those of major importance as soon as possible. In particular, area KDK 5—an extensive “spreading habitat”—has been the focus of two 9 m² test pits to assess its state of preservation and clarify the nature of its archaeological layers and structures. These revealed numerous posthole pits just beneath the surface sand. One pit, cutting through a hearth, demonstrates at least four successive occupation levels at the site. Efforts are underway with local authorities to protect around twenty sites deemed major or representative of the region’s occupations from agricultural cultivation.

Bibliography:

  • J. Reinold, “El Neolitico en Sudan”, in Nubia, Los reinos del Nilo en Sudan, catalogue de l’exposition à Barcelone et Madrid, Fundacion « La Caixa », 2003, p. 28-34 .
  • J. Reinold, Archéologie au Soudan. Les civilisations de la Nubie, Éditions Errance, Paris, 2000.
  • J. Reinold, « Le Néolithique de Haute Nubie. Traditions funéraires et structures sociales », Bulletin de la Société française d’égyptologie n° 143, Paris, 1998, p. 19-40.
  • J. Reinold, « El-Kadada et Kadruka », dans Nubie. Les cultures antiques du Soudan (B. Gratien et F. Le Saout éd.), Lille, 1994, p. 51-66 et 70-86.
  • J. Reinold, « Néolithique soudanais : les coutumes funéraires », dans Egypt and Africa. Nubia from Prehistory to Islam (W.V. Davies éd.), Londres, 1991, p. 16-29.

OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sfdas (4 novembre 2024). 🇬🇧 Kadruka. SFDAS Khartoum. Consulté le 13 février 2026 à l’adresse https://sfdas.hypotheses.org/5612


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