Jebel Sahaba, on the Egypt-Sudan border, was found in 1964 with 61 skeletons — nearly all traumatized — and was long treated as the world's oldest battlefield. Re-examination tells a different story: the dead were buried at different times, many carried healed injuries like broken forearms, and projectile points were embedded in some at burial. Today it's read as a Qadan hunter-gatherer cemetery, from a group that repeatedly clashed with neighbours, maybe over hunting grounds. 🏹🪦
Jebel Sahaba, Egypt-Sudan border, re-dated as a hunter-gatherer cemetery, not a battlefield
Site mentioned
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Key facts
- Jebel Sahaba lies on the border between modern Egypt and Sudan, dates to about 14,000 years ago and was discovered in 1964
- It yielded 61 skeletons, almost all showing clear trauma, and was initially regarded as the oldest known battle site
- Re-examination showed the individuals were buried at different times and many had healed injuries, including broken forearms interpreted as defensive wounds from earlier in life
- Several individuals had projectile points embedded in them at burial and at least two show execution-type blows
- The site is associated with the Qadan (Kadan) hunter-gatherer culture, whose inhabitants hunted and foraged wild grains rather than farming
- Current interpretation: a cemetery for a single group that repeatedly clashed with neighbouring groups, possibly over hunting grounds
Sources
Jebel Sahaba: A succession of violence rather than ...popular-archaeology.com
Many individuals buried at Jebel Sahaba bear injuries, half of them caused by projectiles, the points of which were found in the bones or the ...
(PDF) Revisiting Jebel Sahaba: New Apatite Radiocarbon ...researchgate.net
Direct radiocarbon dates on human remains at Jebel Sahaba span 13,727-7981 cal BP 35 , but evidence for diagenesis suggests that the site may be older 133 .
Jebel Sahabaen.wikipedia.org
Jebel Sahaba is a prehistoric cemetery site in the Nile Valley near the northern border of Sudan with Egypt in Northeast Africa. It is associated with the ...
Archaeology: Prehistoric violence at Jebel Sahaba may not ...eurekalert.org
Reanalysis of the prehistoric cemetery Jebel Sahaba (Sudan), one of the earliest sites showing human warfare (13,400 years ago), ...
New insights on interpersonal violence in the Late ...nature.com
by I Crevecoeur · 2021 · Cited by 103 — Therefore, we consider more likely that the level of interpersonal violence observed in Jebel Sahaba reflects broader inter-group behavioral ...
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