Late Quaternary environments and prehistoric occupation in the lower White Nile valley, central Sudan

Williams, Martin; Usai, Donatella; Salvatori, Sandro; Williams, Frances; Zerboni, Andrea; Maritan, Lara; Linseele, Veerle

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.007

Cited by 79 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…Along the White Nile, the flood stage was about 3 m above its modern maximum (Williams and Adamson 1980) and several western tributaries of the Main Nile (e.g., Wadi Howar and Wadi Malik) became active in this phase (Pachur and Kröpelin 1987;Pachur et al 1990). The increased White and Blue Nile activity is related to the contribution of the summer monsoon over the Ethiopian Highlands and the Ugandan Lake Plateau (Williams 2009;Williams et al 2015). Also, higher precipitation and intensified monsoonal activity led to higher Nile discharge and flooding in neighbouring areas, as in the case of Lake Qarun in the Fayum Depression (Hassan 1986;Hassan et al 2012).…”

Section: Palaeoclimate Research: a Critical Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, geochemical study of stable isotopes (C and O), coupled with paleontological study of molluscs and microfossils, confirm the occurrence of constant freshwater lakes up to a few tens of metres deep. Lake sediments indicate that along the Nile, several ponds were active in this phase; they were limited in extension and interpreted as the result of an increased runoff of the western tributaries of the Nile, which are today inactive (Williams 2009;Williams and Jacobsen 2011;Zerboni 2011;Williams et al 2015). In this phase, the great lakes in the Horn of Africa experienced a general drop in their level after the dry LGM, a high stand, in some cases never reached again later in the Holocene (e.g., Gasse 1977Gasse , 2000Marshall et al 2011).…”

Section: Palaeoclimate Research: a Critical Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Gatto

Zerboni

2015

Afr Archaeol Rev

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This contribution presents the environmental changes that occurred over the last ten millennia in a vast region of North Africa, encompassing the Central Sahara, the Greater Nile Valley and the Horn of Africa. These areas are of particular significance in the continent because of the early socioeconomic transformations that occurred there. An up-to-date review of palaeoclimate research is proposed with the aim to highlight new theoretical approaches, analytical methods and innovative techniques. Results of recent research on high-resolution and well-dated palaeoenvironmental archives for proxy data have been used to understand the climatic variability at different scales of resolution. We trace the regional changes in Holocene palaeohydrology, mostly regulated by monsoonal precipitation, and their effects on the landscape, and highlight the occurrence of short-term climatic events, arid or humid that may have had disruptive consequences on human communities. The contribution also discusses the cultural dynamics that occurred in those regions because the latter were exploited by hunter/ gatherer groups from the onset of the Holocene until historical times. A reconstruction of patterns of human adjustment to climatic variability is here presented, focusing on key processes such as the origin of food production, social complexity and power, and the rise and fall of complex polities and interregional networks.Résumé Cette contribution présente les changements environnementaux survenus au cours des dix derniers millénaires dans une vaste région de l'Afrique du Nord, englobant le Sahara Central, la vallée du Nile, et la Corne de l'Afrique. Ces zones sont Afr Archaeol Rev (2015) 32:301-333 d'une importance particulière, car ce sont là que les processus de développement socio-économiques se sont initialement produits sur le continent. Une revue à jour de la recherche paléoclimatique est proposée dans le but de mettre en évidence de nouvelles approches théoriques, méthodes analytiques et techniques innovantes. Les résultats de recherches récentes sur des archives paléoenvironnementales à haute résolution et bien datées ont été utilisées pour comprendre la variabilité climatique à différentes échelles, traçant les changements régionaux dans la paléohydrologie de l'Holocène, principalement régis par les précipitations de mousson, et leurs effets sur le paysage et soulignant l'apparition de courts événements climatiques, aride ou humide, qui ont pu avoir des conséquences perturbatrices sur les communautés humaines. Cette contribution aborde également les dynamiques culturelles qui ont eu lieu dans ces régions depuis qu'elles ont été exploitées par des groupes de chasseurs/cueilleurs du début de l'Holocène aux périodes historiques. Une reconstruction des schémas d'adaptation humaine aux variations climatiques est présentée ici, en se concentrant sur des processus clés, tels que l'origine de la production alimentaire, la complexité sociale et le pouvoir; ainsi que sur l'essor et la chute de systèmes politiques complexes et de ...

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Section: Palaeoclimate Research: a Critical Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Palaeoclimate Research: a Critical Reappraisalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Gatto

Zerboni

2015

Afr Archaeol Rev

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“…High groundwater levels and local wetlands persisted until~6 ka BP in areas adjacent to the lower White Nile valley (Williams et al, 2015). Both our lake records display persistently low and parallel d 18 O diatom and d 30 Si diatom curves, alongside high values of P wax (Figs.…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…Our sparse d 18 O diatom data confirm the existence of very dry conditions at the start of the lacustrine transgression (~14.9 ka BP) and again during the Younger Dryas stadial (Berke et al, 2012;Johnson et al, 1996;Stager and Johnson, 2008), with an intervening freshening (~12.7 ka BP) during the initial period of lake overflow Williams et al, 2006). 14 C-and OSL-dated alluvial deposits in the lower White Nile valley south of Khartoum demonstrate the occurrence of very high Nile flood levels in the interval~14.5e13 ka BP and to a lesser extent between~9.7 and 9.1 ka BP (Williams et al, 2015), in good agreement with our d 18 O diatom record from Lake Victoria.…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Orbital forcing of glacial/interglacial variations in chemical weathering and silicon cycling within the upper White Nile basin, East Africa: Stable-isotope and biomarker evidence from Lakes Victoria and Edward

Cockerton

Street-Perrott

Barker

et al. 2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tOn Quaternary time scales, the global biogeochemical cycle of silicon is interlocked with the carbon cycle through biotic enhancement of silicate weathering and uptake of dissolved silica by vascular plants and aquatic microalgae (notably diatoms, for which Si is an essential nutrient). Large tropical river systems dominate the export of Si from the continents to the oceans. Here, we investigate variations in Si cycling in the upper White Nile basin over the last 15 ka, using sediment cores from Lakes Victoria and Edward. Coupled measurements of stable O and Si isotopes on diatom separates were used to reconstruct past changes in lake hydrology and Si cycling, while the abundances of lipid biomarkers characteristic of terrestrial/emergent higher plants, submerged/floating aquatic macrophytes and freshwater algae document past ecosystem changes. During the late-glacial to mid-Holocene, 15e5.5 ka BP, orbital forcing greatly enhanced monsoon rainfall, forest cover and chemical weathering. Riverine inputs of dissolved silica from the lake catchments exceeded aquatic demand and may also have had lower Si-isotope values. Since 5.5 ka BP, increasingly dry climates and more open vegetation, reinforced by the spread of agricultural cropland over the last 3e4 ka, have reduced dissolved silica inputs into the lakes. Centennial-to millennial-scale dry episodes are also evident in the isotopic records and merit further investigation.

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“…Panel (b): map of the southeastern Levantine Sea with the location of the investigated sediment core GeoTü SL110 and other cores mentioned in the text; not shown are GeoTü SL143 and LC21, which are positioned further to the north (cf. iment discharge of the White Nile can be neglected because its load is stored in Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, and in the Sudd Basin of South Sudan (Adamson et al, 1980;Foucault and Stanley, 1989;Williams et al, 2006Williams et al, , 2015Garzanti et al, 2015). About 32.5 % of the Nile suspension consists of clay (Quelennec and Kruc, 1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A distal 140 kyr sediment record of Nile discharge and East African monsoon variability

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Clay mineral assemblages in a sediment core from the distal Nile discharge plume off Israel have been used to reconstruct the late Quaternary Nile sediment discharge into the eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS). The record spans the last ca. 140 kyr. Smectite abundances indicate the influence of the Blue Nile and the Atbara River that have their headwaters in the volcanic rocks of the Ethiopian Highlands. Kaolinite abundances indicate the influence of wadis, which contribute periodically to the suspension load of the Nile.Due to the geographical position, the climate and the sedimentary framework of the EMS is controlled by two climate systems. The long-term climate regime was governed by the African monsoon that caused major African humid periods (AHPs) with enhanced sediment discharge at 132 to < 126 (AHP 5), 116 to 99 (AHP4), and 89 to 77 ka (AHP3). They lasted much longer than the formation of the related sapropel layers S5 (> 2 kyr), S4 (3.5 kyr), and S3 (5 kyr). During the last glacial period (Marine Isotope Stages (MISs) 4-2), the long-term changes in the monsoonal system were superimposed by millennial-scale changes in an intensified midlatitude glacial system. This climate regime caused short but pronounced drought periods in the Nile catchment, which are linked to Heinrich events and alternate with more humid interstadials.The clay mineral record further implies that feedback mechanisms between vegetation cover and sediment discharge of the Nile are detectable but of minor importance for the sedimentary record in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea during the investigated African humid periods.

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Late Quaternary environments and prehistoric occupation in the lower White Nile valley, central Sudan

Cited by 79 publications

References 60 publications

Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Orbital forcing of glacial/interglacial variations in chemical weathering and silicon cycling within the upper White Nile basin, East Africa: Stable-isotope and biomarker evidence from Lakes Victoria and Edward

A distal 140 kyr sediment record of Nile discharge and East African monsoon variability

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Late Quaternary environments and prehistoric occupation in the lower White Nile valley, central Sudan

Cited by 79 publications

References 60 publications

Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Holocene Supra-Regional Environmental Changes as Trigger for Major Socio-Cultural Processes in Northeastern Africa and the Sahara

Orbital forcing of glacial/interglacial variations in chemical weathering and silicon cycling within the upper White Nile basin, East Africa: Stable-isotope and biomarker evidence from Lakes Victoria and Edward

A distal 140 kyr sediment record of Nile discharge and East African monsoon variability

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

A distal 140 kyr sediment record of Nile discharge and East African monsoon variability