55th century BCE – 45th century BCE
Lower Nubia around the Second Cataract
The Abkan culture was a prehistoric Lower Nubian tradition found on both sides of the Nile near the Second Cataract. Its lithic assemblage developed from the Terminal Palaeolithic Qadan Industry, while its plain reddish-brown pottery and sizeable multiple-occupation sites indicate a substantial population. Subsistence remains uncertain, but exchange of pottery with the Khartoum Variant and later contributions to the A-group culture are documented.
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The Story
The Abkan culture occupied both sides of the Nile in the vicinity of the Second Cataract. Its stone-tool assemblage appears to have developed from the Terminal Palaeolithic Qadan Industry, indicating a local technological sequence rather than a wholly external foundation. The cultural evidence is concentrated in pottery and lithics, while the passage emphasizes that much about subsistence remains unknown.
Abkan pottery consisted mainly of plain, clay-tempered, reddish-brown open bowls. Multiple-occupation sites covered sizeable areas and suggest a larger population than earlier communities in the region. Hunting seems to have been of little importance, but the available evidence does not establish whether people relied primarily on cultivation, herding, fishing, or another combination of resources.
The Abkan culture was connected to neighbouring traditions through the movement of pottery. Khartoum Variant sherds occur at Abkan sites, and Abkan sherds occur in Khartoum Variant sites, suggesting at least partial contemporaneity and interaction. The passage also leaves open possible relationships with the Tergis and El-Melik groups of the Dongola region and with the Northern Predynastic Sequence.
Abkan and Khartoum Variant traditions appear to have contributed to the later A-group culture of Lower Nubia. This relationship was not a simple replacement: A-group sites also contain pottery derived from Upper Egyptian Predynastic traditions, showing that Lower Nubia developed through the interaction of local cultural traditions and influences arriving along the Nile.
55th century BCE – 45th century BCE
Lower Nubia around the Second Cataract
The Abkan culture was a prehistoric Lower Nubian tradition found on both sides of the Nile near the Second Cataract. Its lithic assemblage developed from the Terminal Palaeolithic Qadan Industry, while its plain reddish-brown pottery and sizeable multiple-occupation sites indicate a substantial population. Subsistence remains uncertain, but exchange of pottery with the Khartoum Variant and later contributions to the A-group culture are documented.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Abkan culture occupied both sides of the Nile in the vicinity of the Second Cataract. Its stone-tool assemblage appears to have developed from the Terminal Palaeolithic Qadan Industry, indicating a local technological sequence rather than a wholly external foundation. The cultural evidence is concentrated in pottery and lithics, while the passage emphasizes that much about subsistence remains unknown.
Abkan pottery consisted mainly of plain, clay-tempered, reddish-brown open bowls. Multiple-occupation sites covered sizeable areas and suggest a larger population than earlier communities in the region. Hunting seems to have been of little importance, but the available evidence does not establish whether people relied primarily on cultivation, herding, fishing, or another combination of resources.
The Abkan culture was connected to neighbouring traditions through the movement of pottery. Khartoum Variant sherds occur at Abkan sites, and Abkan sherds occur in Khartoum Variant sites, suggesting at least partial contemporaneity and interaction. The passage also leaves open possible relationships with the Tergis and El-Melik groups of the Dongola region and with the Northern Predynastic Sequence.
Abkan and Khartoum Variant traditions appear to have contributed to the later A-group culture of Lower Nubia. This relationship was not a simple replacement: A-group sites also contain pottery derived from Upper Egyptian Predynastic traditions, showing that Lower Nubia developed through the interaction of local cultural traditions and influences arriving along the Nile.
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