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Jebel Sahaba
Jebel Sahaba (Arabic: جَبَل ٱلصَّحَابَة, romanized: Jabal Aṣ-Ṣaḥābah, lit. 'Mountain of the Companions'; also Site 117) is a prehistoric cemetery site in the Nile Valley (now submerged in Lake Nasser), near the northern border of Sudan with Egypt in Northeast Africa. It is associated with the Qadan culture. It was discovered in 1964 by a team led by Fred Wendorf.
Since their discovery, the skeletons of Jebel Sahaba have been continuously re-evaluated by anthropologists seeking to determine the circumstances of their death. As of the most recent study (2021), it seems most likely that the war (dating to c. 12th millennium BC) was driven by resource scarcity due to climate change. Tribes of the Qadan culture partook in a series of raids and ambushes against one another with projectile weapons - mostly light arrows, but also much heavier arrows or throwing spears.
The site is often cited as the oldest known evidence of warfare or systemic intergroup violence, although as of 2021 the earliest documented evidence of interpersonal violence appears to be the partial remains of a skeleton in Wadi Kubbaniya from 20 ka (i.e. 19th-18th millennium BC).
Initially, Jebel Seheba was believed to be the site of a singular battle. However re-examination of the remains has superseded this thesis as of 2021. The co-occurrence of healed and unhealed lesions among 41 individuals (67.2%) was found to strongly support sporadic and recurrent violence between the social groups of the Nile valley. The projectile direction inferred from lesions suggest a series of raids or ambushes, rather than pitched battles.
It is unclear whether the site is the result of a single conflict, a specific burial place or the evidence of sustained inter-personal violence.
Hoffman (1993) argued that the conflict took place due to climate change. By the late Paleolithic, the Qadan culture had developed crop harvesting, being among the first cultures to do so. However, climate change reduced crop yields, and the resulting lack of resources would have given an incentive for local social groups to compete for resources through violent struggles such as at Jebel Sahaba.
Hoffman's thesis has not been contested. Decades later, a 2021 study stated that "major climatic and environmental changes" remained the most probable explanation.
Initially in 1988, the violence was dated to 14,979-18,568 BP (i.e. 13,029-16,618 BC). This dating was based on bone collagen from a specific skeleton named JS 43. In the late 2010s, numerous authors rejected this date due to poor collagen preservation. A 2021 article assessed that the violence may date anywhere between 13,400 and 18,600 BP (i.e. 11,450 and 16,650 BC), though 13,362-13,727 BP (i.e. 11,412-11,777 BC) appeared to be the best estimate based on dentine dating.
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Jebel Sahaba
Jebel Sahaba (Arabic: جَبَل ٱلصَّحَابَة, romanized: Jabal Aṣ-Ṣaḥābah, lit. 'Mountain of the Companions'; also Site 117) is a prehistoric cemetery site in the Nile Valley (now submerged in Lake Nasser), near the northern border of Sudan with Egypt in Northeast Africa. It is associated with the Qadan culture. It was discovered in 1964 by a team led by Fred Wendorf.
Since their discovery, the skeletons of Jebel Sahaba have been continuously re-evaluated by anthropologists seeking to determine the circumstances of their death. As of the most recent study (2021), it seems most likely that the war (dating to c. 12th millennium BC) was driven by resource scarcity due to climate change. Tribes of the Qadan culture partook in a series of raids and ambushes against one another with projectile weapons - mostly light arrows, but also much heavier arrows or throwing spears.
The site is often cited as the oldest known evidence of warfare or systemic intergroup violence, although as of 2021 the earliest documented evidence of interpersonal violence appears to be the partial remains of a skeleton in Wadi Kubbaniya from 20 ka (i.e. 19th-18th millennium BC).
Initially, Jebel Seheba was believed to be the site of a singular battle. However re-examination of the remains has superseded this thesis as of 2021. The co-occurrence of healed and unhealed lesions among 41 individuals (67.2%) was found to strongly support sporadic and recurrent violence between the social groups of the Nile valley. The projectile direction inferred from lesions suggest a series of raids or ambushes, rather than pitched battles.
It is unclear whether the site is the result of a single conflict, a specific burial place or the evidence of sustained inter-personal violence.
Hoffman (1993) argued that the conflict took place due to climate change. By the late Paleolithic, the Qadan culture had developed crop harvesting, being among the first cultures to do so. However, climate change reduced crop yields, and the resulting lack of resources would have given an incentive for local social groups to compete for resources through violent struggles such as at Jebel Sahaba.
Hoffman's thesis has not been contested. Decades later, a 2021 study stated that "major climatic and environmental changes" remained the most probable explanation.
Initially in 1988, the violence was dated to 14,979-18,568 BP (i.e. 13,029-16,618 BC). This dating was based on bone collagen from a specific skeleton named JS 43. In the late 2010s, numerous authors rejected this date due to poor collagen preservation. A 2021 article assessed that the violence may date anywhere between 13,400 and 18,600 BP (i.e. 11,450 and 16,650 BC), though 13,362-13,727 BP (i.e. 11,412-11,777 BC) appeared to be the best estimate based on dentine dating.