The Affad Basin is a region located in the Middle

Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

. Affad 23 is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

located in the Affad region of southern

Dongola Reach The Dongola Reach is a reach of approximately 160 km in length stretching from the Fourth downriver to the Third Cataracts of the Nile in Upper Nubia, Sudan. Named after the Sudanese town of Dongola which dominates this part of the river, the r ...

in northern

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, which hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest open-air

hut A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, clay, hid ...

in the world) and diverse

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

gathering Gather, gatherer, or gathering may refer to: Anthropology and sociology *Hunter-gatherer, a person or a society whose subsistence depends on hunting and gathering of wild foods * Intensive gathering, the practice of cultivating wild plants as a s ...

loci some 50,000 years old". Osypińska (2021) indicates that an "archaeozoological discovery made at Affad turned out to be of great importance for the entire history of cattle on the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n continent. A large skull fragment and a nearly complete horn core of an auroch, a wild ancestor of

domestic cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, Domestication of vertebrates, domesticated, Bovidae, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos ...

, were discovered at sites dating back 50,000 years and associated with the MSA. These are the oldest remains of the auroch in Sudan, and they also mark the southernmost range of this species in the world." Based on the

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

(

Bos ''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is a genus of bovines, which includes, among others, wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including t ...

) remains found at Affad and Letti, Osypiński (2022) indicates that it is "justified to raise again the issue of the origin of

Northeast Africa Northeast Africa, or Northeastern Africa, or Northern East Africa as it was known in the past, encompasses the countries of Africa situated in and around the Red Sea. The region is intermediate between North Africa and East Africa, and encompasses ...

. The idea of domestic cattle in Africa coming from the Fertile Crescent exclusively is now seen as having serious shortcomings."

Archaeology

Initially, the sites of Affad were surveyed between 1998 and 2003. In 2012, archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences began excavation of the sites. The excavation data spans approximately 70,000 years of this region's history in Sudan. Affad 23a

Affad 23 is an

located in alluvial deposits formed by an ancient channel of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

in the Affad region of southern

in northern

. Affad 23 hosts "the well-preserved remains of prehistoric camps (relics of the oldest open-air

in the world) and diverse

and

loci some 50,000 years old". Osypińska (2021) states:

The complex of
Middle Paleolithic The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle P ...
sites around Affad in the Southern Dongola Reach is important from the point of view of the oldest stages of the history of the Middle Nile region. At sites encompassing the remains of hunter-gatherer encampments from about 50,000 years ago, more than 10,000
petrified In geology, petrifaction or petrification () is the process by which organic material becomes a fossil through the replacement of the original material and the filling of the original pore spaces with minerals. Petrified wood typifies this proce ...
animal remains have been discovered. The main group of animals hunted by the
late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...
communities in Affad were even-toed
ungulates Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to b ...
. The hunting patterns of Middle Paleolithic communities varied according to the season. In winter, the dry season, the zone of coastal forest and scrub was exploited. The main species hunted was the shy, medium-sized
kob The kob (''Kobus kob'') is an antelope found across Central Africa and parts of West Africa and East Africa. Together with the closely related reedbucks, waterbucks, lechwe, Nile lechwe, and puku, it forms the Reduncinae tribe. Found along ...

antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...
(Kobus sp.). It is most likely that large
catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...
(Siluriformes) were also caught at low water levels in winter. In summer, when the waters of the Nile flooded the lower-lying areas, people hunted animals living in the more open area of the wooded park savanna. The main species killed then was the auroch (''Bos primigenius''). An archaeozoological discovery made at Affad turned out to be of great importance for the entire history of cattle on the African continent. A large skull fragment and a nearly complete horn core of an auroch, a wild ancestor of domestic cattle, were discovered at sites dating back 50,000 years and associated with the MSA. These are the oldest remains of the auroch in Sudan, and they also mark the southernmost range of this species in the world.

In addition to the

harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

ing and utilization of

cereals A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize (Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, suc ...

(e.g.,

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

), an abundant amount of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

was produced at Affad 69. Based on the

(

) remains found at Affad and Letti, Osypiński (2022) indicates that it is "justified to raise again the issue of the origin of

. The idea of domestic cattle in Africa coming from the Fertile Crescent exclusively is now seen as having serious shortcomings."

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last1=Osypińska , first1=Marta , last2=Osypiński , first2=Piotr , title=From Faras to Soba: 60 years of Sudanese–Polish cooperation in saving the heritage of Sudan , date=2021 , publisher=Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology/University of Warsaw , isbn=9788395336256 , oclc=1374884636 , pages=187, 192, 460 , url=https://depot.ceon.pl/bitstream/handle/123456789/21580/Katalog%20wystawy%20From%20Faras%20to%20Soba%20-%20ONLINE%20o2.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Prehistoric Africa Stone Age Africa Archaeological sites in Sudan