ABSTRACT
As yet, relatively little is known of the Late Pleistocene archaeology of the Middle Nile (El-Amin 1981, 1987). In the far north in Lower Nubia and Upper Egypt, a series of Late Palaeolithic lithic industries have been defined, but their possible significance for areas further south is as yet unclear where nothing comparable has yet been found. Notable amongst these is the ‘Qadan culture’, dated c.13,000-9000 BC, assigned to which are some cemeteries, at Jebel Sahaba, near the Second Cataract and at Toshka downstream of it. These remarkably early cemeteries also provided compelling evidence for the prevalence of violent death during this period, perhaps reflecting the precariousness of existence in this marginal environment (Close and Wendorf 1990: 53). Anthropological studies (Anderson 1968; Greene and Armelagos 1972) of these Final Pleistocene populations placed them in a ‘northern sphere’ relating them to Mechta-Afalou populations of the Mahgreb (see also Petit-Maire and Dutour 1987). One other important, if much earlier site (c.20,000 BP) was at Wadi Kubbaniya in Upper Egypt (Wendorf et al. 1988).
