Holdaway, Simon

Kluiving, Sjoerd

Koopman, Annelies

Wendrich, Willeke

Institutional Repository of the Freie Universität Berlin

Special Volume 3 (2012), pp. 63–69Annelies Koopman – Sjoerd Kluiving – Willeke Wendrich –Simon HoldawayLate Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’sEarliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers, Fayum Basin,Egyptin Wiebke Bebermeier – Robert Hebenstreit – Elke Kaiser – Jan Krause (eds.), LandscapeArchaeology. Proceedings of the International Conference Held in Berlin, 6th – 8th June 2012Edited by Gerd Graßhoff and Michael Meyer,Excellence Cluster Topoi, BerlineTopoi ISSN 2192-2608http://journal.topoi.orgExcept where otherwise noted,content is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution 3.0 License:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0Annelies Koopman – Sjoerd Kluiving – Willeke Wendrich – SimonHoldawayLate Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’sEarliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers, Fayum Basin,EgyptGeoarchaeology; agriculture; domesticates; Egypt; Fayum Basin; palaeo-lake levels.A fundamental question in Near Eastern Archaeology is why agriculture in Egypt wasintroduced four millennia later than in the adjacent Eastern Mediterranean and SouthwestAsia.1 Phillipps et al.2 suggest that adoption of Near Eastern animal and plant domesti-cates by Neolithic societies in Egypt around 7000 cal. BP occurred during a period withincreased winter rainfall, comparable to southwest Asia. Environmental change after 6000cal. BP meant however, that the growing of wheat and barley was no longer sustainablein Egypt and required significant shifts in agricultural strategy before they were viablelong term.3 The main aim of this geoarchaeological research is to test the environmentalexplanation for the apparent lag in the entry of agriculture into Egypt.The Fayum Basin, northern Egypt (Fig. 1), has long been recognised as representingthe earliest example of agriculture in Egypt, as domesticated Emmer wheat and barleywere discovered in hearths at two Neolithic occupation mounds and in nearby grain stor-age pits.4 Prehistoric people in the Fayum Depression occupied palaeo-shores of a seriesof large freshwater lakes that were controlled by the variable inflow of Nile water sincethe early Holocene.5 Palaeo-lake water levels fluctuated in response to changes in Nileflood heights, the result of the highly seasonal Blue Nile flow from monsoonal rainfall inthe volcanic uplands of Ethiopia, and White Nile flow from rainfall in the lake plateau ofUganda.6 Archaeological evidence for past human occupation in the Fayum Depressionis concentrated in distinct topographic bands across the northern palaeo-shores of themodern, brackish terminal Lake Qarun, the shrunken remnant of the larger palaeo-lakes(Fig. 1). Rises and falls of palaeo-lake levels in different periods through the Holocenehave been established through association of lacustrine deposits with distributed culturalmaterial since the early 20th century.7Hiatus in human occupation of the depression is explained by sudden declines inpalaeo-lake levels, controlled by position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)and Sub-Saharan climatic changes.8 Palaeo-climatic reconstructions however, indicate abrief period of sustained mid-Holocene winter rains in Northeast Africa from the easternMediterranean,9 which correlate with the relative short period of intense Neolithic habi-tation in the Fayum Basin between 7000–6000 cal. BP.10 The adoption of domesticates1 Allen 1997; Zeder 2008.2 Phillipps et al. 2012.3 Phillipps et al. 2012.4 Caton-Thompson and Gardner 1934; Wendrich and Cappers 2005.5 Caton-Thompson and Gardner 1934; Wendorf and Schild 1976.6 Hassan 1986; Hassan 1997; Williams 2009.7 e.g., Caton-Thompson and Gardner 1934; Hassan 1986; Wendorf and Schild 1976.8 Hassan 1997.9 Arz et al. 2003.10 Phillipps et al. 2012.64 Annelies Koopman et al.Fig. 1 | Study area in the Fayum Basin, northern Egypt (NASA World Wind 1.4).by Neolithic occupants of the depression can be viewed as one of a range of unique low-level food producing societies that developed around the Mediterranean mid-Holocene,in which domestic species added to, rather than replaced, existing subsistence strategiesdependent on wild food resources.11 A reliance on winter rains for cereal cultivationmay explain the efflorescence of Neolithic occupation in the depression, as well as itssubsequent rapid decline, as the winter rain belt shifted back to the north and climaticchanges led to the start of the present-day hyper-arid state of the Sahara.12 In addition,new data on the micro-dynamics of the Fayum palaeo-lake level fluctuations during theEarly Holocene13 suggest that a greater detail of higher temporal resolutions in lake levelreconstructions is required for correlations between lake level history and periods ofhuman occupation.The greater part of the archaeological record in the Fayum Depression however, isuncovered, aggregated on today’s eroded desert surfaces, and this hampers conventionalgeoarchaeological research. Deflation processes active along today’s hyper-arid north-ern palaeo-shores of Lake Qarun have exposed a Neolithic archaeological record at thepresent-day surface, comprised of extensive deposits of stone artefacts, bones, and pottery.The archaeological deposits are associated with heat-retainer hearths at the present-daysurface, visible as concentrations of burnt stones that often protect charcoal, and twostratified Neolithic occupation mounds, known in the literature as Kom W and Kom K.14Although archaeological artefacts at the present-day surface are commonly difficult torelate to their stratigraphic context,15 they provide fundamental data on past geomorphicchanges and human land use if analysed with attention to history of deposition of the11 Holdaway, Wendrich, and Phillipps 2010; Phillipps et al. 2012; Smith 2001; Wenke, Long, and Buck1988, 44–46.12 Phillipps et al. 2012.13 Koopman 2010.14 Caton-Thompson and Gardner 1934.15 e.g., Aerts et al. 2003, 138; Buck, Kipp, and Monger 2002, 683; Ward and Larcombe 2003; Fanning,Holdaway, and Rhodes 2007.Late Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’s Earliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers 65sediments on which they currently rest.16 Systematic comparisons between the depo-sitional history of sediments at Earth’s surface and areal presence of surface archaeol-ogy enables understanding of (palaeo-)processes of erosion and deposition that lead tothe formation of the surface artefact record, and of the significance of the quantity ofartefacts visible.17 Holdaway18 made use of the extensive surface archaeological recordin the arid interior of Australia to interpret rapid climatic changes and human responseduring Late Holocene, by means of correlating optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)and radiocarbon age estimates with high-resolution palaeo-environmental records fromoutside the region. The use of archaeological records at the present-day surface can befurther enhanced by combining them with elemental techniques from the Earth sciencesused to study the local sedimentary record.In order to understand the relation between past environmental shifts and initial useof domesticates in Egypt, the following research questions are addressed:1. What were the rates and spatial variability of dominant geomorphic processes inthe Fayum Basin that were critical to Neolithic occupation?2. How do sedimentary facies at the present day surface in the Fayum Depressioncorrelate with exposure, preservation, visibility, and content of archaeological evidencefor Neolithic occupation at the present-day surface?3. How do stratigraphic sequences with archaeological evidence for Neolithic oc-cupation in the Fayum Basin correlate with local geomorphology and palaeo-lake levelreconstructions?To answer the research questions we use a multi-proxy approach of basic techniquesfrom the Earth Sciences, with incorporation of published Late Quaternary regional andglobal climate proxies and information on the Holocene flow regime of the River Nile.Lithological field investigations and systematic sediment sampling across the hyper-aridnorthern palaeo-shores of Lake Qarun (Fig. 1) provide a high-resolution geomorphicframework for the study of the Neolithic archaeological record in the Fayum Basin. To al-low for systematic comparisons between surface sediments and surface archaeology acrossthe study area, investigations of lagged or winnowed geomorphology are performed atareas containing surface archaeological evidence for Neolithic occupation, as well as atbarren surfaces. Outcrop investigations and selective hand-drilling (Dutch and RiversideAugers, ø7cm) at the Neolithic occupation mounds Kom W and Kom K, as well as atlower surrounding geomorphic surfaces provide data on the relationship between localgeomorphology, palaeo-lake level fluctuations and Neolithic occupation.Analytical studies, focused on grain size, are performed at the Sediment AnalysisLaboratory of the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences at the VU University Amsterdam.Because grain size is the most fundamental property of sediment particles, affecting theirentrainment, transport and deposition,19 grain size distributions (GSDs) from sampleddeposits of geomorphic units are measured by Laser Particle Sizer (Helos KR Sympatec/Windox 5.6). Observed frequencies are decomposed through a numerical-statistical inver-sion,20 in order to obtain environmental diagnostic features from the observed sedimentpopulations.21 End-member modelling coupled with weight-percentages of organic mat-ter and CaCO3 (TGA-701 Leco Corporation Germany) provide new data on geomorphicprocesses and source areas responsible for spatial-temporal variability of litho-types in theFayum Basin, controlled by palaeo-lake levels and (regional) climatic changes.16 Buck et al. 1999; Huckleberry and Billman 2003, 505; Fanning et al. 2009; Holdaway and Fanning 2010.17 e.g., Fanning et al. 2009; Holdaway and Fanning 2010; Huckleberry and Billman 2003, 505.18 Holdaway et al. 2010.19 e.g., Blott and Pye 2001; Folk and Ward 1957.20 Algorithm EMMA: Weltje 1997; Weltje 2001.21 Weltje and Prins 2003; Weltje and Prins 2007.66 Annelies Koopman et al.Chronology of the geomorphic reconstructions is provided by AMS Radiocarbondeterminations on organic material preserved in natural and cultural deposits, comple-mented by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) age determinations on sediment atkey areas. To allow for systematic comparisons between geomorphology and archae-ology, both datasets are integrated in a GIS-environment (ArcGIS 10). Our systematicmulti-scalar approach leads to a new method to study geomorphic contexts of archaeo-logical records in the Eastern Sahara that can be applied elsewhere. The results fill a majorgap in archaeological knowledge, as “the southern margin of the Mediterranean Basinalong coastal North Africa is essentially terra incognita for understanding the course ofNeolithic emergence.”2222 Zeder 2008, 11603.Late Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’s Earliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers 67BibliographyAerts et al. 2003R. Aerts et al. “The Accumulation of Stone Age Lithic Artifacts in Rock FragmentMulches in Northern Ethiopia”. Geoarchaeology 25 (2003), 137–148.Allen 1997R.C. Allen. “Agriculture and the Origins of the State in Ancient Egypt”. Explorationsin Economic History 34 (1997), 135–154.Arz et al. 2003H.W. 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Journal of Field Archaeology 15 (1988),29–51.Williams 2009M.A. Williams. “Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environments in the Nile Basin”.Global and Planetary Change 69 (2009), 1–15.Zeder 2008M.A. Zeder. “Domestication and Early Agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin. Ori-gins, Diffusion, and Impact”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of theUnited States of America 105.33 (2008), 11597–11604.Annelies Koopman (corresponding author), Department of Geo- and Bioarchae-ology, VU University, Boelelaan 1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands,a.koopman@vu.nlSjoerd Kluiving, Department of Geo- and Bioarchaeology, VU University, Boelelaan1085, 1081HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands, s.j.kluiving@vu.nlWilleke Wendrich, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles, CA 92521, USA, wendrich@humnet.ucla.eduSimon Holdaway, Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland, PB 92109Auckland, New Zealand, sj.holdaway@auckland.ac.nz

Late Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’s Earliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers,
Fayum Basin, Egypt

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Late Quaternary Climate Change and Egypt’s Earliest Pre-Pharaonic Farmers, Fayum Basin, Egypt

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