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Sixty-four sherds and seven natural clays from prehistoric sites in northwestern Sudan have been submitted to petrological and chemical analysis using XRF spectrometry, EMPA and ICP-MS. According to their texture, the sherds form five different groups. The high contents of P 2 O 5 (more than 0.5 wt%) discerned in 19 samples and the variation of the P 2 O 5 content in two samples of the same vessel can be explained by post-depositional processes or by the ancient organic contents (e.g., milk) of the vessel. Chemical classification of the pottery bulk suggests that vessels were made locally, as only sherds from the same area show homogeneity of data.

La céramique représente le matériel archéologique le plus important récolté dans la région du Wadi Howar au Nord du Soudan. Son analyse et surtout celle de son système décoratif ont permis la mise en place d'une séquence culturelle holocène. T rois horizons culturels s'étalant entre environ 5200 et 1100 BC, peuvent être distingués, chacun caractérisé par un schéma décoratif particulier. Incision et impression sont les techniques utilisées pour la réalisation des décors ; l'impression reste toujours la technique dominante. Les décors principaux varient pour chaque horizon culturel, de même que les principes du système décoratif. Des décors à (Dotted) Wavy Line et de type Laqiya ainsi que des zigzags serrés précèdent les motifs Leiterband et en zigzag auxquels succèdent divers motifs géométriques. Les récipients sont d'abord complètement décorés puis des zones réservées de plus en plus importantes sont intégrées au système décoratif. Les décors par application de natte n'apparaissent qu'à la fin de la séquence.

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Wadi Hariq is a complex valley system in the Northwest Sudan about 400 km west of the Nile. Stratigraphic investigations provide new data on the environmental and climatic history of the present-day hyperarid centre of the southeastern Sahara. Archaeological work there only started at the end of the 1990s, with a survey and excavations carried out as part of the multidisciplinary research project ACACIA of the University of Cologne. To date, 104 sites are known in the Wadi Hariq. Based on the pottery found at these sites, most can be attributed to the Handessi Horizon, the former Geometric Pottery Horizon, of the eastern Sahara. Geometric patterns, and also mat impressions, are characteristic of the Handessi Horizon (ca 2200 . 1100 BC). The subsistence of these prehistoric inhabitants was based on the herding of cattle and small livestock. Transhumance cycles included areas further north (Laqiya region) and south (Wadi Howar), and perhaps even the Nile Valley has to be considered. Similar decorative patterns have been found in all these areas. Evidence of an even earlier human presence in the Wadi Hariq during the Holocene is provided by several sherds decorated with Dotted Wavy Line and Laqiya-type patterns as well as some fragments of rippled-ware pottery.