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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Toshka reveals prehistoric treasures
By Nevine El-ArefAn Egyptian-American team, working in an area called Nabta-Playa in the Toshka area, in the southwestern desert about 100km west of the Abu Simbel temples, has unearthed one of the earliest human settlements. It includes 75 oval houses built in alignment, a well, a sun observatory and a burial ground for cattle, dating back to prehistoric times.
"This discovery is unique and is in good condition," said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). The importance of the site, he explained, lies not only in the wealth of the anthropological material discovered, but also because Nabta-Playa, which was the largest basin in the southeastern region of the Sahara, came to be known as a regional ceremonial centre, to which people flocked to perform rituals. It was richer than the surrounding areas because it had water, which was the key to all human settlement.
According to Musallam Shaltute, a professor of astronomy, the sun observatory discovered in Toshka is the oldest calendar ever found. It is even older than that of Stonehenge in England.
"It was used by our tribal ancestors to calculate changes in the climate and to know the exact date of seasonal winds, which brought rain and prosperity," he said.
The observatory includes a sandstone circle with eight slabs. These are the gates: two pairs on opposite sides of the circle are aligned exactly north-south while the other two are aligned at 62 degrees east of north. This direction points to the position of the sun on 21 June, the beginning of summer and the onset of the rainy season in this belt of Africa.
"The wet season was a cause of celebration and the entire population was believed to have gathered for the annual festivities, which were an occasion for cattle-slaughter," said Gaballa. He added that the bones of cattle, obviously used in the rituals as offerings to the rain-gods, had been found in the area.
A grave, with a wooden ceiling covered with sandstone, was also discovered in Nabta-Playa. This belongs to a small heifer, which provides evidence that the worship of cattle originally began in the Egyptian Sahara before the onset of Pharaonic civilisation.
The team also came across 30 megalithic structures, made of great stones, each weighing two and a half tons, said Gaballa. These, he added, are impressive examples of stone-working, which may well mark the beginning of the early Egyptian fascination with large stone architecture and could possibly be the oldest sculptures in Egypt.
"The construction of these megalithic structures requires a degree of skill, organisation and commitment, which were previously unknown at such an early age," said Gaballa. The last ruler and inhabitants of Nabta-Playa, when they decided to abandon the desert region and move towards the life-giving waters of the Nile, brought with them many of those technologies, that would soon distinguish Egypt from anywhere else on earth, he explained.
The earliest signs of organised warfare were also discovered in a graveyard in Jebel Sahaba, near Wadi Halfa, where more than 44 men, women and children were buried, the bodies bearing evidence of a violent death. The grave dates back 14,000 years -- much earlier than habitation had been estimated in the region. The corpses, however, have none of the physical characteristics of indigenous Egyptians. They were tall, heavily-muscled people with strong physiques.
